Welcome to Yaoi High
by eftee
Summary: Discontinued. There is a revised version out called "Namikaze."
1. Welcome to Yaoi High

**WELCOME TO YAOI HIGH: WARNING  
**For those of you who don't know: YAOI means **GAY MAN SEX**. Ok? So if you're not _mature _enough, don't _read_ it. Although there's no explicit content as of yet (up to ch 11 is the latest update), then still, don't bother reading. Don't bother clicking the title. Don't bother leaving me a review saying "eeww yaoi" because that just shows _your _immaturity.

Plus I will laugh at you.

K?

Have a nice day.

-

-

Honestly. I can't believe I didn't think to do this SOONER…

Really now.

-rakes knuckles on head-

…and ya ya, I know I'm digging myself an even bigger hole by starting _another _fic when Lord knows I already have _enough _unfinished ones… but… when temptation arises… an author cannot resist writing a ficcie that makes her giggle and giddy and squirmish with excitement! –cackles- Nyahahahaha…

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me…

--

_Welcome to… Yaoi High!_

_--_

Konoha High School was a very prestigious, private school split into two "sub-schools": Konoha's All Boy's School, and Konoha's All Girl's School. They were located on two completely opposite sides of Konoha, the all boy's school located on the eastern side of the city, and the all girl's school located on the western side of Konoha. They were the only schools located in the boisterous city because the whole city itself was a city (metaphorically speaking) paved in gold. People who could afford living in riches lived there and sent their children to be educated in Konoha's schools.

Rich people, according to the blonde, cerulean-eyed boy who halted in front of the all boy's school, are normally smart and well-educated people.

Which was why, as Uzumaki Naruto stood uncertainly in front of the rather _intimidating _building, wondered _what _he was doing there.

But then an image of his caretaker – brown skin and scar across the bridge of his nose and all – popped in to his face and he remembered exactly _why _he was standing there in front of this rich and prestigious school. His Guardian, Umino Iruka, told him he would be attending Konoha's All Boy's High School that year – Naruto's junior year. He was, personally, very furious about it; very angry about everything: that they had to move to Konoha, and that Naruto had to go to a new school when he was in his _second-to-_ _last year of high school. _But… as Iruka pointed out, he was being offered a _very _good, high-paying job, and in order to be able to take care of himself and the blonde, he would take whatever high-paying job he could get.

…Which, in the end, made Naruto calm down about the whole thing.

But _still…_

Before he came to Konoha, he attended a public school somewhere a few hours away. So it was only natural that he would be terribly upset about the fact that he had to wear a _uniform _now. He didn't like it that his whole wardrobe was practically planned and set for him for the rest of his junior and senior years. Naruto sighed irritably as he adjusted his navy tie. At least the uniform wasn't hideously grotesque and itchy or else all Hell would have broken lose. On the contrary, his uniform wasn't _that _bad: a simple navy vest with a matching tie, navy lose pants, shiny black shoes, a white buttoned up t-shirt… It was a bit formal for Naruto's taste, but he assumed it would have to do.

School started a week ago, but Naruto, too depressed about the moving and being forced into another school, rebelled against Iruka for a week and avoided school. But Iruka made a point to say that he was the one with the money, the one who bought the GROCERIES and the FOOD… a.k.a. supplied Naruto with his RAMEN… and if he DID NOT ATTEND SCHOOL then…

Naruto shuddered, kicked moodily at a small pebble and made his way into the open doors of Konoha's All Boy's School.

He did not know the moment he stepped through those doors, that his first and certainly not last, year at the school would change his life… forever.

--

Naruto had never seen so many boys before in his short, sixteen years of existence. There were usually girls to balance out the number of guys in a school, but without girls it just seemed like… He didn't know _what _it seemed like, but it was strange and _different._

Everywhere he turned he saw a guy.

Straight on: guys.

To his left: guys.

To his right: more guys.

Around a corner: even _more _guys…

Not a single girl in sight.

Inner Naruto clutched his heart painfully, spun around, and dropped dead in a dramatic fashion. Outer Naruto nodded sympathetically to his inner self before he continued walking with a heavy sigh. Thinking of 'Inner Naruto' reminded him of his pink-haired friend from his old school, Haruno Sakura. She was Naruto's best friend, a girl he had a crush on when he was younger, but a crush he had eventually grown out of when accepting the fact that all they would ever be was really good friends. He told her everything and vice versa, and she even told him about her "Inner Sakura," something he couldn't help musing over that moment as he wondered what his pink-haired friend was doing.

He sighed. She was probably socializing with their friends before first period started, hanging out beneath the tree they normally hung out at before school, during brunch and lunch, and after school.

A longing to be with Sakura and his friends overcame him as Naruto's walking slowed to a gradual and zombie-like pace.

It hurt when he thought about them because they were people Naruto had gone to school with his whole life. There was Sakura, his best friend and confidant who was always by his side, and he by hers, always supporting each other, always holding on to each other's hands as they would smile at each other and walk into school as their days began.

And now?

Naruto glanced forlornly at his left side, as if expecting a girl with pink hair to suddenly sprout up next to him and take his hand.

Now… he just felt so _alone._

He decided not to brood much over this newfound sense of loneliness and opted to fishing out his schedule and locating his first period class.

Homeroom, R43, Hatake Kakashi.

Great! Homeroom! That wasn't so bad!

…Now if only he could find _where _his class was located… then it would be even greater.

He sighed and wandered helplessly down the halls, looking at the labels above every door. _R12… R14… R16…_

How big _was _this school anyway?

He scratched his head with frustration before he started gnawing on his bottom lip, a nervous habit he had for as long as he could remember. Naruto didn't know _what _to do as he felt so helplessly lost and confused in this foreign building. Everything there was new to him: the people, the setting… _everything. _He wanted to whine and hide away in a corner, but he knew he wouldn't be allowed to do such a thing. So… he remembered how he got himself and Sakura lost in a city one time and she suggested he ask someone for directions, but he declined and insisted he knew where they were and where they were going and she had made a huffy comment about how "boys are too stubborn to ask for directions," or something along those lines. Naruto decided, for once, to put aside his stubbornness to ask a nearby person for directions.

The person had stopped in front of a classroom, searching through his pockets for something, Naruto did not know what. He was much taller than Naruto himself, maybe a good head or so taller with pale skin and dark hair and eyes. Naruto didn't pay much attention to the guy's appearance as he figured he was an upperclassman. "Ano sa, ano sa, sempai…" Naruto hastily wandered over to him with his schedule held out. "Can you tell me where R43 is?"

Onyx eyes flittered and rested on him as a perfectly arched eyebrow was raised and a look of what appeared _amusement _settled on the guy's blank face. He didn't answer right away, so Naruto fidgeted and demanded, "Well, do you?"

He blinked slowly before nodding. "Hn." He pointed to a nearby staircase. "Make a right when you get up there. It should be on your left side."

"Arigatou, sempai!" Naruto hastily darted up the indicated stairs.

The onyx-eyed young man watched him run off with some amusement, wondering if he should call out and tell him no running in the halls, but shrugged it off and fished out his keys, unlocking the door to his classroom and stepping inside. Next to his door was a plate with _Uchiha Sasuke _inscribed into the plate.

--

Much thanks to that guy's directions, Naruto made it on time for Homeroom. He figured it wouldn't have mattered if he was late anyway because it appeared that the teacher wasn't even there yet. He sighed and slumped into a seat at the back by the window, staring out blankly as other students started to file into the classroom, chattering about one thing or another. He paid no mind to them because he didn't know any of them, which was why he didn't pay any attention to a body that had stopped by his desk.

"Oi."

…Which was why he wasn't aware that someone was addressing him.

"…"

"_Oi._"

Naruto blinked, turned his head, and lifted his gaze in innocent bewilderment.

A pair of blank, yet accusing jaded eyes stared at him, the owner of the eyes owning a head of messy red hair that looked rather haggard and unkempt. Black rings surrounded the pale boy's eyes and though he seemed to have no eyebrows, he didn't need any to crease to put emphasis on his steady glare because his eyes and glare alone were bad enough.

If someone had warned Naruto who this guy was, he might have been afraid of the red-head.

Might have.

But the blonde merely tilted his head in confusion at the boy who looked no older than himself. "…Nani?"

"You are in my seat."

Naruto blinked again before realization dawned on him and he quickly grabbed his bag and schedule and leaped out of the red-head's desk before plopping down on the one in front of him. Jade eyes watched him disinterestedly, but a hint of mild surprise tinged his features. Didn't this boy know who he was?

But, no, he didn't expect the blonde to know who he was. He never saw his face before. It was obvious he was new.

Growing disinterested once more, he sat down at his desk, figuring as soon as the boy learned who he was, he wouldn't be sitting in front of him for long

The bell had rung, and still there was no sign of this _Hatake Kakashi._

None of the other students seemed bothered or surprised though as they continued to chat about this and that, one boy making a paper plane and sending it flying through the classroom. Naruto looked around curiously before sighing to himself for seemingly the hundredth time that day. If he was going to make new friends here, he might as well _try _talking to people… He turned around to face the stoic red-head behind him who had been staring blankly and quietly out the window throughout the whole time. Naruto offered him a hand to shake and a wide, toothy grin.

"I didn't really introduce myself before, but I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm new here!"

Pale jade eyes stared at him, and then at his hand, and then at him. He made no move to return the gesture as he merely stared at Naruto.

"Er…" Naruto started to squirm uneasily and awkwardly in his seat as what felt like an eternity of heavy awkwardness pass between them before Naruto pulled his hand away. The way the boy was looking at him made him feel like he was boring holes through his head. He didn't know or understand what was up with this red-head, but something about him told Naruto that he wasn't one to be socialized with, but Naruto didn't care. He didn't like judging a person simply by their appearance or their first impressions. So the blonde remained persistent. "Ano… what's your name?"

Even though the boy remained silent for some time, Naruto continued to study him curiously. He wore a passive and emotionless expression, his emotions and whatever else he was thinking unreadable and guarded. His lips were seemingly etched into a perfect, thin line, and his eyes were a misty cloud of jade. Naruto was once told that a person's eyes was a gateway into a person's soul, a window into their very being. But as Naruto stared into this boy's eyes, he saw _nothing, _and that thought alone disturbed him somewhat as he smiled timidly, still waiting for a response. If he wasn't afraid to criticize and make fun of this guy, Naruto would call him Raccoon Boy for the black rings that rimmed his eyes and put heavy emphasis on his pale emerald eyes.

It's funny because as Naruto stared at him, he was slightly reminded of his best friend, Sakura. While Sakura had bright, bold emerald eyes, this guy had pale, light jade eyes. While Sakura had pink hair that stood out just as boldly as her eyes, this guy had sandy red hair, a hue not as bold as a bright pink or a brighter red. And as Naruto studied him, he was reminded of all the times he would turn around in his seat to meet the smiling face of his pink-haired friend. He felt a pang of longing in his chest.

"Well…?" Naruto continued to probe insistently, not noticing the slight twitch in the red-head's temple in a sign of irritation at being badgered by this new student.

He thought his silence and his glare would have made the blonde get up and find a new seat, or at least turn away from him, but no. He remained annoyingly persistent. He was debating on whether telling this… _Naruto… _who _exactly _he was, or at least telling him not to talk to him because no one ever _dared _bother him… but he concluded someone would tell the blonde sooner or later in a haste to save his life.

…But it seemed no one was paying attention to them, because no one had yet to try and save the cerulean-eyed boy…

He breathed out heavily through his nostrils before crossing his arms and eyeing Naruto in a bored manner as he muttered: "…Gaara." He figured if he just quenched the boy's curiosity for his name, he would then leave him alone, and he saw no harm in telling him his name anyway. The blonde was a small, skinny-looking thing with tousled sun-kissed hair that seemed to spike in all directions, bangs falling over his eyes and side bangs framing his golden-tanned face. Bright, cerulean eyes widened at first when he heard the name, but then they brightened and closed in a cat-like manner as he beamed pearly white teeth at Gaara.

"It's nice to meet you, Gaara!"

Gaara blinked blandly. He didn't understand why the boy seemed to happy to learn his name, nor did he understand why Naruto hadn't turned away yet, hadn't show his back to him yet, why he… _wouldn't stop talking._

He was rambling about how he was new and how he didn't know anyone (here he gave a rather sulky and teary-eyed look to emphasize his dismay and what a wretched situation he was in), and how he missed his friend Sakura and some of his other friends from his old school… other than that Gaara stopped paying attention and tuned him out completely.

And then an irate comment made Gaara lift his gaze to him as Naruto looked to the teacher's desk and asked loudly: "Where's the teacher anyway? It's already fifteen minutes into class and he's not here yet…"

Hm. Yes. Gaara wondered the same thing.

But he didn't care.

If they were lucky, their teacher could have gotten hit by a car and died.

…but well Fate wasn't that nice as the door suddenly opened and a smiling man came walking in – or at least everyone _assumed _he was smiling because of how his eyes were closed and quirked and scrunched up in a way that would only scrunch up if one was smiling. People were staring at him in disbelief – not because of how late he was, but because of his _ludicrous _choice for wear. He was wearing a scarf that was wrapped around his neck and hid half of his face from view, along with a coat that looked far too thick to be wearing in such a nice weather. Glasses slid down the bridge of the man's nose before he pushed it back up as he waved to the class.

"Maa, maa… " Most of the students were still socializing when he came in. "Settle down now." They took their cue and quickly scuttled to their appropriate seats, all of them watching their teacher curiously as he shrugged his coat off, but left his scarf on. "Sorry for being late. I had to help an old woman cross the road. Charming woman, really, sweet as well. Aa…" His eyes opened in a starry-eyed manner as he clasped his hands together. "Doing good for others always brings a tear to my eye."

Silence.

And then several snorts traveled throughout the class as they all stared accusingly yet amusedly at him.

Naruto assumed this was Hatake Kakashi, his homeroom teacher.

No one took their gaze from him as the silver-haired man sat down in his seat, studied the scattered paper planes on his desk with a curious gaze before ignoring them all together and pulling out his roll sheet. He went through the routine of calling out names and checking who was there and who was not.

"Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Here." He raised his hand.

At this, Kakashi looked up with a raised eyebrow. "Aa… So you're Uzumaki Naruto. I was wondering when you would show up. Had to mark you absent for a full week, y'know."

Naruto merely smiled sheepishly as he lowered his hand.

Kakashi continued roll call until he was done going through the list. He reached into a drawer and pulled out an orange book that made Naruto raise _his _eyebrow in a curious manner, wondering what the man could be reading. Kakashi made an absentminded gesture with his hand.

"Well, be good students and read now."

There were some protesting groans and shuffles before they all took out their books and read. Naruto looked around, not realizing he was supposed to bring a book, and made a mental note to ask Iruka for one so he could bring it tomorrow. He crossed his arms on the desk and tucked his chin against his arms before staring out the window. He sighed (again) and wondered how long it would take for the class to end.

--

His first two actual classes went by slow and uneventful – after homeroom he had English, and then Fire Country's History. They were released for a fifteen minute brunch and Naruto took that time to locate his locker. He already had some text books that he did not particularly enjoy carrying around, so as soon as he found his locker, he stuffed them into there. He closed his locker, sighed heavily, pressed his forehead against the cool door and closed his eyes. He would go visit Iruka in his classroom, but he knew he wouldn't have time to, and he saved that for lunch. And besides…

A sound currently caught his attention and curiosity.

It was something that sounded like a muffled giggle and a moan.

Curiosity getting the best of him, Naruto stood up straight and wandered cautiously down the hall and towards a turn in the corridor. He peeked around the corner, and his eyes widened and his jaw practically fell apart at what he saw. Two boys were making out, one pinning the other against some lockers as Naruto could see their hands were currently busy touching each other, and their mouths locked in a _very _intimate kiss.

Naruto found he couldn't look away, never having seen two boys making out before.

But when he realized he was staring longer than he should have been, he quickly pulled away and hurried in the opposite direction. He turned another corner and practically froze when seeing another pair of boys practically molesting each other openly in the hall.

And what threw Naruto off completely was that people were passing by, sending them amused and sly glances, or just not paying attention to them _at all._

Now, Naruto was _not _a homophobic, nor did he have anything against gay guys but… he just didn't expect to stumble across such sights, especially when he never saw such things at his old school.

See, no one had warned Naruto that when he walked into Konoha's All Boy's High School that his life would change.

Nor had they warned him that Konoha's All Boy's High School had a nickname the girls from the All Girl's school gave them.

_Yaoi High._

He felt someone rest a hand on his shoulder and clasp it and Naruto slowly turned to meet a pair of pale jade eyes and a rather feral and knowing smirk.

Gaara looked amused as his smirk widened.

"Welcome to Yaoi High, Naruto."

--

**To be continued.**

**--**

Mwaha. Review plz. –hearts-

(And sorry for any spelling/grammar errors. I am far too lazy to reread this and edit -dies-

**Oh and... **This fic isn't going to have any major plot... Soo... if you have any requests/suggestions/ideas for any pairing you would like to read about... then go ahead and recommend them! I am open to ideas. But I _do _know this is going to mostly be SasuNaru, and will most likely end SasuNaru. -giggles-)


	2. First days can't be THAT bad

Naruto, in the few short hours he's known Gaara, was not aware that the red-head was capable of smirking such a feral looking smirk.

He thought he had imagined it at first…

But there was no denying it.

There was no denying that Gaara was taking pleasure and amusement in Naruto's stunned reaction.

Even Inner Naruto had turned a paper white and was stunned into silence.

…And there was no denying that Naruto was, indeed, in _Yaoi High._

--

_Welcome to Yaoi High  
_Chapter 2: First Worst Day EVER

--

Alarm bells were going off in his head, sirens flaring and shouting and screaming clearly: RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN.

And Naruto, who looked ready to bolt at any minute as he took a step back, suddenly remembered a brown-skinned, scarred face man look at him with teary, expectant eyes; eyes expecting him to understand why they were there, why Iruka wanted this job, why he wanted Naruto to attend the school…

And he went rigid and he cursed quite colorfully beneath his breath.

Naruto swears to Bob, oh Holy Bob (Lawd bless his soul… whoever and wherever Bob is), that he was _not _a homophobic. He swears upon all things swearable that he _honestly _was and is not a homophobic.

But if you were a guy, and you were as straight as straight comes (or so you've told yourself for the past sixteen years of your existence), wouldn't you want to high-tail it out of a school infamously known as **Yaoi High**? He was already getting this horrible, horrible, _horrible _sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that… this school was _not safe _for straight-as-straight-comes guys like himself.

…_But what am I scared of? _Naruto silently mused, creasing his brows in determination to meet whatever may come head-on. _I'm straight, after all, so I shouldn't have to worry…_

…_I am straight, right?_

…

_Right…? _The determination on his expression faltered.

Inner Naruto was too busy digging himself a grave to hide in.

_Of course I'm straight! I had a crush on Sakura-chan for like ever… And it's just that… I haven't found any other RIGHT girl to crush on… Yosh! Uzumaki Naruto is _so _straight…!_

His determination and confidence came back and Naruto glanced at Gaara who wasn't smirking all catlike and evil anymore. He looked like the same passive Gaara he had met in Homeroom, but with a hint of amusement.

"…Che…" Naruto snorted, adjusting his tie. "Stop trying to scare me."

"Hm." Gaara merely glanced at Naruto and shrugged. If he didn't want to take him seriously, then let the blonde idiot find out the _hard _way. Disinterested once more, the redhead walked away.

Naruto scowled, pouted, huffed, and then chose to ignore the arrogant boy as he whipped out his schedule. He needed to find R17. Human Physiology was his next class, with some teacher by the name of _Uchiha Sasuke. _He retraced some of his steps, walking backwards with long strides, not noticing some of the strange looks people were giving him before he turned around, faced the staircase, and marched down them stiffly (maybe a bit too stiffly).

…_I like boobs… _He found himself thinking as he glanced at some guys' chests, as if expecting them to have breasts. He found he was _not _disappointed when he _didn't _see any breasts. _Er… well… I don't mind flat-chests, either. Sakura-chan doesn't have big boobs, and I had a crush on her for ever… _Naruto tapped his chin as he absentmindedly swung his book bag in a childish manner. _And anyway… boobs are squishy… and soft and round… like… butts… Yeaaah… Girls have nicer butts than guys… _

Naruto nodded to himself to confirm his thoughts. He reached the bottom of the stairs and he looked from left, to right, to left, to right. He made a left.

…_Boys don't really have squishy butts or squishy boobs… So… boys aren't as attractive as girls so I'm most definitely straight and not gay – Wait, why am I trying to confirm my own masculinity with myself? I already know I'm straight! I'm being silly._

And so, Naruto laughed a "Nyahahahaha" laugh (to himself).

Nervous glances were sent his way (for he hadn't realized he laughed _out loud…_)

Naruto concluded he was being very, very silly. Just because some (obviously) crazy kid tells him he's in YAOI HIGH… that doesn't mean he has to believe him. Sure he saw two couples (both couples all very much male) making out… but that didn't mean the whole student body was gay…

So he really had nothing to worry about!

He was being paranoid for absolutely _no _reason _at all…_

Yosh.

Everything was a-okay!

Oh how he desperately wanted to believe that.

--

_R17. R17… R17… where oh where is R17… Aha!_

He stopped in front of a door where a plank was labeled "R17 – Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto checked his schedule to make sure it matched the room number and teacher name before he took in a deep breath and marched into the classroom. Brunch had just ended, so there were a few students already in the class, but no sign of the teacher.

He scanned the room curiously and his eyes instantly locked with familiar pale jade eyes. Gaara. Naruto straightened his shoulders and started to walk over.

His stumbling _did not _have _anything _to do with the fact that he saw two guys leaning in towards each other and making out in the middle of the classroom.

Really.

It didn't.

Naruto regained his footing and continued walking, paying no heed to the mildly amused look Gaara sent him before plopping down in a seat next to him. He didn't want to feel like he constantly had someone glaring at the back of his head (which was how he felt during Homeroom when sitting in front of Gaara).

And still, Naruto refused to acknowledge the fact that this school could possibly very well be Yaoi High.

He blinked though when someone suddenly plopped down in front of him. Naruto tilted his head curiously as a pair of abnormally round eyes blinked at him, eyes which were framed with thick eyebrows and rather… odd looking eyelashes. His haircut was _strange _and different as well. It was a bob-cut of some sort, cut short and in one straight layer.

Naruto thought he's seen it _all… _but just looking at this guy made him realize how wrong he was.

Fuzzy Eyebrows, as Inner Naruto automatically labeled him as (having gotten over his previous shock), flashed Naruto and Gaara a toothy grin, and as he grinned, his _abnormally _VERY white teeth flashed and sparkled. And as his teeth flashed and sparkled, he raised two thumbs up and winked.

"I, Rock Lee, welcome you!"

"…"

Naruto blinked, speechless.

The strange guy with the strange eyebrows and the strange eyes and strange hair and strange smile took Naruto's hands, eyes sparkling with stars.

"My knowledge of all Youth has led me to believe you are new to our wonderful school! And I, Rock Lee, feel that the best way to take advantage of our youth fully is to know all and keep up with all youth in this school!"

What made this guy even stranger was the fact that he was practically _emitting _stars.

It was… weird.

"Eheh…" Naruto grinned and pried away one of his hands in order to use it to scratch the back of his head awkwardly. "I am Uzumaki Naruto!"

He beamed.

Lee beamed back.

The two shared a beaming moment as they practically lit up the whole classroom.

"YOSH!" Lee then stood up in his seat, one foot planted firmly on his desk as he pumped his fist into the air. "I would like to declare to Konoha's All Boy's High School that Uzumaki Naruto is now a new friend of Rock Lee's!"

They shared another beaming moment as Lee flashed Naruto what the blonde learned to be his "Good Guy Pose." They spent the remainder of passing period with Lee teaching Naruto how to perfect the pose as more students continued to file in the classroom.

"Just keep practicing and you will become a pro in no time, Naruto-kun!" Lee cooed proudly as he watched with teary eyes as Naruto continued to attempt to perfect the Good Guy Pose. He got down the body posture and the thumbs-up, the blonde just had yet to figure out how to make his teeth sparkle like Lee's…

Snickers passed throughout the male population as everyone _but _Lee and Naruto noticed someone approach them. The person crossed his arms as he cleared his throat loudly, watching as the two boys blinked at each other and then simultaneously turned their heads to look at the young man standing in front of them with crossed arms. Dark tendrils of hair framed his sharp face, shorter strands in the back sticking out in a spiky manner. Questioning and cool onyx eyes stared at the two boys with one perfectly arched eyebrow on ivory skin. If Naruto was gay (which he was _so _not), he would think this guy was the prettiest guy to ever walk the planet…

He was wearing a buttoned-up t-shirt with the upper most buttons loosened up and opened and his sleeves were rolled and tucked to his elbows as well, revealing his golden watch on his left wrist. He was tapping one of his fingers on his upper arm as he stared quizzically at Lee and Naruto.

"Care to explain why you two are standing on your desks?"

Lee hastily bowed repeatedly. "Gomen nasai –"

"Sempai?" Naruto blinked before scowling and crossing his own arms. He recognized him as the upperclassman he had asked for directions to his Homeroom class. "What's it to ya?"

Silence.

Eerie, eerie silence.

It was as if an invisible vacuum passed through their class and sucked up all the noise in there.

"Ano, Naruto-kun…" Lee started, shattering the silence, but the young man held up a hand to prevent him from talking anymore. He fell silent.

Naruto frowned when seeing that. He judged even though he was smaller than this pale, ghostly guy, he could still take him out. "Don't listen to him, Lee! We don't _have _to listen to him… I mean, who does he think he is?"

And that was the first time Naruto was introduced to this young man's smirk – his arrogant, arrogant smirk that Naruto wanted to wipe off his face and the planet all together.

"I believe I am Uchiha Sasuke, your teacher."

Silence --

(Mostly from Naruto's part) – as the whole class sniggered once more.

And instantly all thoughts of punching his face in left Naruto's mind as this horrible sense of dread crept up on him. He did the only thing he could do – gape.

"Now, if I were _you… _I would take your seat," Sasuke said crisply, still smirking. He started to walk back to the front of the class when he paused and glanced at the gaping blonde from over his shoulder. "Oh, and detention. For a week."

Naruto continued to gape before he shook his head wildly and then asked huffily, "Detention? What for?"

Sasuke looked at him coolly and replied as if his response was the most obvious answer: "For talking back to your teacher."

"But for a _week?_"

"Did you want detention for two weeks?"

"…"

Naruto grudgingly sat down.

He was _livid._

It was only his first day of school and he already had detention – and for a week! He groaned. _Iruka's going to kill me…_

_(After Physiology and Math - Lunch) _

"...I mean, who does he think he is? I didn't even do anything and he gave me detention -- for _two weeks!_"

Naruto was ranting.

Gaara was listening.

Well, he supposed he was to listen, but he really was not listening. He was too busy ignoring the blonde to be listening. Everything Naruto was saying flew smoothly over his head, hardly even grazing the tips of his hairs.

"So _what _if he's a teacher? Che. He looks too young to be a teacher..."

Gaara continued walking, arms crossed, eyes trained forward.

Naruto continued walking beside him, fuming, ranting, rambling, and being over-all annoying (in Gaara's opinion).

A pulse twitched in the red-head's temple as he wondered _why _this loud guy was following _him, _of all people, around. Couldn't he go and bother that Lee guy? Speaking of that Lee guy...

Gaara's annoyance increased ten-fold as he remembered that 'that Lee guy' was walking on his other side, nodding animatedly as the blonde ranted. Why were they _both _following him? Why couldn't they go off their separate ways and be annoying together -- far away from Gaara?

"Well he _is _very young for a teacher," Lee commented. "Springtime youth was very kind to Uchiha-sensei. He graduated a year early from high school, and he went to university for two or three years and right after became a teacher. Last year was his first year teaching."

Naruto snorted. "So he's not that much older than us... Then I won't feel so bad about pulverizing him or anything."

"Oh Naruto-kun, then you'd be taken into custody and your youthful years will be wasted behind bars!"

"Eh... it's a price I'm willing to pay," he muttered, pouting, linking his hands behind his head as he walked in front of Lee and Gaara. Naruto rounded a corner and then seemed to think better of it and retraced his steps, an "Oh shit," falling from his mouth. He blocked Lee's and Gaara's path as he waved his hands. "Ano... I don't think you guys would want to go _that _way... let's try another hall!"

Gaara didn't even glance at him as he brushed past Naruto and made his way down the hall Naruto was so keen on avoiding. Lee blinked curiously and peered around him and his mouth went into the shape of an 'O' when he realized _why _Naruto didn't want to go that way. Two boys were embracing and kissing each other -- mouth and tongue and all, of course. Lee laughed and turned his gaze on Naruto.

"You'll be seeing that a lot around here, so you might as well get used to it."

"That's what I was afraid of..." he mumbled, shoulders sagging.

"Well it seems as if Gaara-kun has left us," Lee commented thoughtfully. "Ne, Naruto-kun? Would you like to meet some of my friends?"

"I would but... maybe next time. I just remembered I need to go see someone."

Lee nodded and smiled before taking off towards the cafeteria, waving to Naruto from over his shoulder. "Ja ne, Naruto-kun!"

"Ja..." Naruto waved and headed off in another direction, looking for Iruka's classroom. He _would _have gone with Lee, but then he realized he lost his appetite.

After visiting Iruka and telling him about his day (making sure to sugarcoat most of the details), Naruto was down to his final two classes for the day.

_Thank God,_ was all he could think.

(Unforunately, my gathered readers, nothing exciting happened in his fifth class, Art, other than meeting a rather odd and interesting character who wore glasses and called himself Shino. Naruto couldn't help but notice that the boy seemed fascinated with bugs... which freaked the blonde out, to say the least... but nothing _quite _compared to his final class: weight training...)

Because school had already started a week ago, lockers were assigned and PE uniforms were given out and the physical activities were already starting.

The thing about Naruto was that even if he was small compared to an average guy, he was still physically fit, and therefore loved Physical Education more than any other class.

It was his favorite class.

(Note keyword: _was._)

Naruto was short compared to most guys, and he was thin and skinny, almost slender looking. He didn't _really _look like a girl, but his features seemed rather boyish and young and semi-feminine in his own way. If anyone were to look at him, they would not think this boy liked anything physically-related. But Uzumaki Naruto was as fit as any athlete (just without the added muscles and height and built and strength).

Lucky for him, Lee and Gaara were in his PE class, two boys he was familiar with.

_Un_fortunately for him... Gai was his teacher.

But he didn't realize just how unfortunate he was until that very day when he and the rest of his classmates stood outside in a line on the track field, all wearing their PE uniforms (Gai having supplied Naruto with one).

Naruto looked at his teacher curiously. There was something oddly familiar about that teeth-flashing smile he gave, and the thumbs-up pose he liked to flash to his students... He glanced at Lee, whose eyes were shimmering and sparkling with absolute joy and admiration, and Naruto realized _why _this Gai-sensei seemed familiar...

"Alright, my wonderful, youthful students!" Gai slammed one clenched fist into his open palm. "We will start with one hundred push up's! And if you do not complete one hundred push ups, then you must do one hundred laps! And if you do not complete one hundred laps then it is one hundred sit up's!"

There was a chorus of collected groans.

"But... Gai-sensei," one student spoke up, speaking for the rest of the students (besides Lee who looked ecstatic to fulfill his teacher's wishes). "We don't have enough _time _to do all that."

"...Right!"

"Gai-sensei!" It was Lee who spoke up this time. He had a look of determination plastered on his features. "I will complete one hundred push up's! And if I do not complete one hundred push up's, then I will complete one hundred laps! And if I do not complete one hundred laps then I will complete one hundred sit-up's!"

"Oh Lee-kun..." Gai turned to him with a serious expression as both clasped hands, tears shimmering (beautifully) in their eyes. "You make me so proud."

"Anything for Gai-sensei!"

_Are they serious...? _Naruto stared at them. No one else seemed bothered by this exchange between student and teacher. It was as if... this was a normal thing for the two. Naruto shook his head in disbelief.

Gai suddenly rounded on his other students. "What are you all standing around for? Run laps for the rest of the period!"

More groans.

Some mumbled _"Hai, hai..."_

The group of students dispersed and went off to run laps, Naruto running along side Gaara. He couldn't help but notice how the red-head tried running faster, but the blonde always kept up with ease. This seemed to irritate Gaara into running _even _faster, but Naruto would always catch up with a, "It's as if you're trying to ditch me, Gaara!"

And the red-head would grunt and glare at him and mutter, "Exactly."

...The running wasn't the worst part about PE though.

(Except for when Gai would bark at them and flash them all the Good Guy Pose and smile that teeth-flashing smile in hopes to encourage them to run faster and harder... and then give them 'encouraging' speeches...)

The _shower, _on the other hand...

It was required by the school that after PE, everyone was to take a shower. And so, Naruto found himself after a long hour of running in the hot, scorching sun, standing in the boy's locker room, stripping himself of his clothes along with the other boys. Some of them had already jumped in the showering area, others were loitering around, the rest taking their time to remove their clothes. Naruto was taking his time. It wasn't that he was self-conscious. He knew he was skinny and small (height-wise of course...) compared to all the other guys, but that's not what made him nervous about taking a shower with more than just a handful of boys...

But it was the fact that he could not get what Gaara had said to him earlier out of his head.

Welcome to Yaoi High, Naruto.

Naruto mentally shook his head. He was probably over-exaggerating and worrying himself for no reason. He inhaled deeply and stuffed his clothes into his locker, a towel wrapped around his thin waist. He scanned the mass of naked skin in the locker room before taking in a deep breath and making his way to the showering area. A pair of boys were running around, one chasing the other with a towel, but Naruto paid no mind to them as he made his way to a vacant shower head and turned it on. He left his towel on though, ignoring the dark-haired boy next to him as cold water beat at his body.

"Cold. Cold. Cold." Naruto hopped to the side, shuddering as he glared at the pouring water. He waited until it turned warm before he dared to step beneath it again, and once his body heated up, he sighed with relief.

So far so good...

He started scrubbing at his hair with soap when he felt the towel around his waist loosen... and then fall off.

Naruto blinked and looked down, and his eyes widened when he realized it was that dark-haired boy next to him who had pulled his towel off and his just-as-dark eyes were staring where they should _not_ be staring.

And what made Naruto flush a rather lovely shade of red was the dark-haired and pale boy's comment:

"Your penis is very small."

_Punch._

**_to be continued._**

Kukuku... i'm sure we all can guess who that is at the end, hahahaha...

and i'm sorry this took a while. it was hard to write this chapter because I tried to pay attention to how I wrote out each character. I am trying to keep them in-character, and it's hard since i'm not used to writing with naruto-characters.

BUT OMG. THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE REVIEWS. I was blown away, haha. So many reviews for just one short chapter. -tears- you guys are awesome. I'll try writing longer chapters. It's just hard atm when I have dance practices. So we'll see how things go! But thanks again! I really am very happy for all the reviews so far. Thanks dudes!

Don't forget to review. -winks-


	3. Of Detentions, Intros, and Ass Groping

**Welcome to Yaoi High!**

**-**

Chapter 3;

-

A curious little blush was plastered on the man's face as he stalked the empty halls.

What appeared to be glee was evident on the half-covered face as his eyes curved and closed in a pleasant manner.

A barely sustained giggle was muffled before he squealed with childish mirth when he turned a page of his suspicious-looking orange book.

_Icha Icha Paradise_ was printed in bold letters on the front cover.

Kakashi wiggled and squirmed with unconstrained joy as he swooned over the next events taking place in his XXX-rated, extremely graphic novel. Oh how the perverted-sensei worshipped the creator of _Icha Icha Paradise _so...

The silver-haired teacher passed by an open classroom. Fortunately for him, he had the last period free to read all the porn he wanted. And Kakashi was going to continue enjoying his novel when something caught his attention. He retraced his steps as he glanced curiously from the corner of his eyes, peering into the opened classroom. From his peripheral view, he saw a teacher stacking up some papers; a teacher he had never seen before. Kakashi was informed that they had a new addition to the teaching staff, but he was never introduced to this new staff member.

And so, Kakashi saw it as his duty to get to know _all _teachers.

Particularly if said new teacher was very, very cute and very, very attractive.

Closing his book and tucking it in his coat, Kakashi whistled to himself as he casually strode up to the classroom door. All the meanwhile his gaze never left the rather _cute new _teacher and Kakashi looked amused to realize said teacher was not aware of his presence yet.

Yes, indeed, Kakashi had a thing for cute-new-male-teachers. This one looked slightly younger than him with tanned skin and dark hair pulled back in a short pony-tail. Just-as-dark eyes scanned the papers on his desk before he closed his eyes and let out a sigh. He looked lithe and small, but not too small, just something less of 'average.' A noticeable scar crossed over the bridge of his nose and beneath his eyes, but it did little to deter the amounts of _cuteness _radiating from him.

Inner Kakashi looked ready to pounce and ravish his new prey.

Outer Kakashi approached the man calmly.

He raised a fist and raked them lightly on the door.

And for the first time, lazy eyes met the shy (and yet, not _that _shy) gaze of Umino Iruka.

"Can I help you?" Iruka asked, tilting his head the slightest bit.

Inner Kakashi cooed appreciatively. _Yes, very cute._

"Aa... well, I heard we have a new addition to the staff, and since I have never met him..." Kakashi's eyes curved and closed, indicating he was smiling since Iruka could not really _see _a smile beneath that scarf of his. He gestured at himself as he said smoothly, "Hatake Kakashi."

Iruka opened his mouth to respond when:

"...Iruka-san!" And in all 'youthful' and green glory, Gai appeared, looking out of breath. But he quickly composed himself and beamed. "Aa, and Kakashi-san!"

"...Gai..." Kakashi drawled out, sidling to the side and away from Gai.

Gai threw an arm around Kakashi. "My Eternal Rival! I have not seen you in a while! You must join me for some laps today after school!"

"I am quite busy after school, Gai." The silver-haired man plucked the other man's arm off of him.

"You can never be too busy for some hearty exercise!"

"Hn..." Kakashi merely smiled, but a twitch of his eyebrow was scarcely visible.

"...Did you want something, Gai-san?" Iruka asked, politely clearing his throat.

"Aa, yes, yes..." The man with the thick eyebrows quickly took on a business-like attitude. "You are Uzumaki Naruto's caretaker, right?"

"Yes..." Iruka answered slowly, suspiciously, eyes narrowing the slightest bit. "...Why?"

"...Well you see... Uzumaki-kun..."

---

"...Punched him?"

Iruka was _furious._

"You _punched _him, Naruto?"

The blonde winced as Iruka's voice rose an octave higher.

"He -"

"How could you punch him!"

"-deserved it!"

"It's only your first day of school and you're already getting into fights!"

"But he deserved it!" Naruto defended himself, frustrated that his Guardian could just not understand, and frustrated knowing he could not _make _him understand, especially when he was in his 'Mother Hen' mode.

And it did not help Naruto at all considering his homeroom teacher was standing off to the side, smiling amusedly, while his PE teacher nodded in agreement and approval to Iruka's nagging.

"Detention, Naruto!"

"_What? _But... Iruka...!" Naruto huffed and made a show of looking aghast. "I already _have _detention! No thanks to that Uchiha-sensei-teme..."

"Naruto!" Iruka looked livid now.

The blonde cringed, realizing his mistake.

"You do not talk about your teachers that way," Iruka reprimanded, eyeing him. "...And _detention _already on your first day? First detention, and then getting into a fight?"

"But I didn't even do anything...!"

"That's what they all say," the peanut gallery (aka Kakashi) muttered to Gai.

"Right," Iruka said flatly. He crossed his arms and stared down at Naruto in a disapproving manner. "I will have a talk with Uchiha-san. Since you already have detention with him, I'm sure he will not mind spending an extra week with you."

Naruto gaped at him.

Kakashi couldn't help but look pleasantly amused at how much the blonde imitated a fish so well...

...and at how much cuter Iruka just kept getting, especially when he was in his 'Mother Hen' mode and so adorably angry.

Naruto opened his mouth, preparing to yell, protest, kick up a fight... but decided to take a different approach. He snapped his jaws shut and looked at Iruka with innocent, bright blue eyes. "Ano sa, ano sa, Iruka-sensei..."

(Naruto had Iruka as a teacher sometime in primary school. Naruto lived with foster parents at the time, but his foster parents never liked him. Eventually, Iruka and Naruto got close -- close enough for Iruka to see what bad conditions Naruto lived in before he managed to persuade Naruto's foster parents --although with little difficulty -- to let Iruka adopt the blonde. Even after all the years, Naruto did not grow out of the habit of referring to Iruka as 'sensei.')

"I promise not to eat ramen for three days. How's that instead of increasing my detention with Uchiha-te... sensei?"

To add to the effect, Naruto bat his eyelashes and mustered the most cutest and innocent expression he possibly could.

Iruka's eyebrow twitched.

Kakashi and Gai exchanged amused expressions, for they were not aware of the blonde's love for ramen. But Iruka was aware of this love... and that 'not eating ramen for _at least a day' _was a feat all in its own for Naruto.

His brow twitched again.

...But he was not swayed.

"Ba-ka," he scolded, thwacking Naruto upside the head.

Said boy held his head and pouted at his guardian slash ex-teacher.

_It was worth a shot._

And yet, even though Naruto had an extra week or so of detention with that Uchiha, it was all worth it.

That _bastard _that had dared to comment about his manhood (which -- Naruto argues -- isn't as small as that _bastard _made it out to be), _deserved _being punched in the face.

What was his name again? Sky? Sigh? Sy? Sai? Something like that.

Sai, he figured. Well, whatever his name was, he deserved being punched for insulting his manliness.

And, if he said so himself, he _radiated _manliness.

(...This coming from a boy whose body physique was below your average male, skinny, lithe, _slender, _and had an air of _feminism... _or better yet, screamed _uke-ness... _but well he doesn't _realize _that yet so shh. Would hate to burst his little bubble of male-egotism, ya know.)

But really, if Gai-sensei hadn't came and interrupted their little tussle (in which Naruto was _so _about to kick Sai's freakin' ass), then Naruto would have done much more damage to that guy than just a black eye… At the thought of seeing Sai with a black eye, a feral grin crossed Naruto's face as he chuckled snidely to himself. He was positively bursting with glee and giddiness at the prospect of such a sight – glee and giddiness that didn't go unnoticed because of his excited squirming and his just as excited cackle.

Iruka gave him a warning look.

Not wanting to get anymore detention than he already had, Naruto instantly fell quiet.

…But grinned away for all he was worth.

-

-

The next day Naruto went to school, it was obvious word had gotten around about what took place in the boy's locker room sixth class because he saw people glancing at him and making no effort to hide what they were talking about. Naruto ignored them though as he slung his book bag casually over his shoulder, his other hand stuffed in his pocket as he crossed the halls of Konoha's All Boy High School and stalked into his Homeroom class. Just as he stepped in, the bell rang and Naruto took his seat next to Gaara. Unsurprisingly, Kakashi hadn't arrived yet to his class.

"Can you _believe _I got detention just for punching that bastard?" Naruto grunted to Gaara, scowling. "Iruka-sensei can be so mean…"

"…"

"I mean, wouldn't _you _do the same thing if someone insulted your manhood, Gaara?" Naruto turned to the redhead with a demanding look.

Gaara spared him a glance, his expression blank and unchanged.

But he couldn't help musing over the question. What _would_ Sabaku no Gaara do if someone _did_ dare to insult _his _manliness?

While Gaara amused himself with thoughts of having powers to control sand and use said sand to crush a human body… Naruto suddenly felt someone roughly pat him on his back, and he looked up startled to see two boys standing by his desk – one he recognized as the weird sunglasses kid from his Art Class – Aburame Shino, he thinks his name is – and another guy with spiky, wild dark brown hair and dark eyes and two red triangular shaped markings on either of his cheeks, the one who had patted him roughly on the back and commented,

"Oi! You're the kid that punched Sai, ya?"

"Aa…" Naruto eyed him and scowled. "But I'm not a kid!"

"Hai, hai, if you say so," he commented absently, one hand moving to rest on his hip while he made a dismissive gesture with the other hand. "But I saw the punch…" He grinned toothily, and Naruto couldn't help but notice how his eye teeth were abnormally sharp and looked like canines. "It was awesome."

"…Yeah, I know." Naruto imitated his toothy grin.

The boy held out a hand. "Inuzuka Kiba."

Naruto took it and they shook. "Uzumaki Naruto."

"This is Aburame Shino," Kiba said, gesturing at the quiet boy with the sunglasses who gave Naruto an acknowledging nod. Kiba glanced uneasily at Gaara, but he continued grinning. "Gaara."

Gaara merely glanced at them before looking away and closing his eyes, arms crossed as he resumed ignoring.

_Is he _always _like this? _Naruto wondered vaguely as he looked at Gaara. He shrugged to himself. _Whaaaatever.. _Naruto grinned at Kiba and Shino. "Aa, ignore Gaara… since he's ignoring us but… I'm guessing he's always like that."

"Heh, yeah." Kiba made a dismissive gesture with his hand. Apparently everyone at that school knew exactly what Gaara was like… everyone except Naruto since the blonde was always seen following Gaara and talking to him. But well, it wasn't in Kiba's place to tell anyone who to hang out with and who _not _to hang out with… so if Naruto wanted to hang around Sabaku no Gaara, then hell if he would do anything about it.

…Even if him telling Naruto that Gaara was dangerous; that he had anger-management issues and tended to beat the crap out of anyone who angered him enough to be beat the crap out of… Even if telling Naruto all that would save his life… weeeeeeeell…

Let the blonde find out the hard way. Everyone else did.

Poor kid. And Kiba thought he was pretty cute too. Maybe a bit too cute for Kiba to just let him risk his life so… but oh well. Kiba grinned at Naruto as he patted the shorter boy on the head, making the blonde scowl and crease his brows at this. "Well, gotta go return back to the other side of the classroom. I'll be seein' ya around, blondie."

And with that, him and Shino dispersed to the far, far, far side (which really isn't that far) of the classroom.

"Oi! Don't call me that!" Naruto pointed after him, but Kiba simply barked out a laugh as he walked away. The blonde plopped down in his seat, cheeks puffed out with indignation before he looked at Gaara.

The red head was still sitting there, arms crossed and eyes closed and all, as if the world didn't matter.

Naruto tilted his head as he continued to study him. It was then he noticed for the first time that Gaara had some sort of tattoo/marking on his left temple. He couldn't really make out what it was, but it was Kanji, that much he knew, he just had trouble distinguishing _what _it meant exactly because of Gaara's bangs getting in the way. Naruto tapped his chin with the eraser of his pencil before...

Lightbulb!

Idea!

Naruto carefully leaned forward in his seat and towards Gaara as he stretched out his hand holding the pencil. He had to be cautious about this. He didn't want to disturb the red-head out of whatever meditative state he was in. He gnawed on his bottom lip as he inched closer and closer, his pencil moving towards Gaara's bangs as he focused on trying to get close enough to carefully shift his bangs so he could see the kanji. His tongue stuck out from the corner of his lips as he neared -- closer and closer still...

And then Naruto blinked as his vision was invaded by glaring jaded eyes.

The shorter boy gulped and laughed nervously, his pencil dropping from his hand and clattering on the desk where it rolled off and plummeted to the ground. Naruto flashed Gaara an innocent, toothy grin as the red-head glared at him and wondered what the hell this boy was doing in his _personal space. _But before Gaara could open his mouth to tell Naruto to back off, the blonde had hastily and abruptly raised his hand to brush aside Gaara's bangs. The gesture made green eyes widen, mild surprise present on his features.

Cerulean blue eyes brightened as Naruto was finally able to recognize the character.

"Aa... sou ka..."

He sat back down and grinned at Gaara, who was still looking at him with some shock and confusion. Naruto pointed. "_'Ai.' _The tattoo on your forehead. Love. That's nice... different, but nice."

Gaara blinked slowly before his expression returned back to the normal blank and detached one. "...Hn."

"You don't look like the type who would have something like 'love' imprinted on your forehead," Naruto mused thoughtfully before crouching down to pick up his pencil. "You look like you'd have... 'hardcore biatch' or 'don't mess with me' or something along those lines." He sat back up and snickered, flashing Gaara a crooked grin.

"...Hardcore... bi...atch?" Gaara repeated slowly, imaginary brows creasing.

Naruto started laughing.

Gaara frowned and scowled, wondering what was so funny.

Apparently Naruto understood what the look was for because he pointed at Gaara before laughing again. "...The way you said that... haaa... never mind." He scratched his cheek before resting his hands on his knees, leaning towards Gaara as his bright blue eyes lit with curiosity. "Ano sa, ano sa, Gaara... Why _do _you have 'ai' on your forehead anyways?"

Gaara looked at him before looking away.

He didn't feel obligated to answer his question, so he wasn't going to, and luckily their teacher's sudden appearance stopped him from having to.

The class had been to busy to notice the oddly-dressed Kakashi come into the classroom. It was only when the silver-haired teacher raised his hand and said "Yo," did the students turn around in their seats to stare at their sensei.

The man's eyes were closed in the usual manner, a smile hiding away behind that scarf of his. While yesterday he had been wearing a navy blue scarf, today he opted for a light green one with yellow stripes. It was amazing how he could wear one when it was such a nice, sunny day outside... Kakashi nudged his glasses up his nose, for they were sliding down again, and he peeked open one eye in order to peer inquisitively at his quiet class. He simply scratched the back of his head when his class groaned and shook their heads, chiding their teacher for being late -- _again._

"Aa... gomen..." Kakashi took his glasses off and wiped them with the hem of his shirt. "You see... I came across this _really _cute kitty cat that was stuck in a tree and..."

Everyone already started tuning him out.

"...And then this little old lady thought I was trying to harm her ickle Fluffy-kins so she attacked me with her purse-of-bricks and..."

Naruto was the only one staring at Kakashi with apt fascination as he hung on to every word.

"...S.W.A.T. team and all came and tried to arrest me thinking I was harming the little old lady and..."

"Yare, yare..." someone in the back interrupted.

Naruto blinked and looked to the side. Somewhere in the middle-back, a bored looking boy with black hair pulled back in a short pony tail sat, arms crossed and an incredulous and lazy expression plastered on his face.

"...So troublesome, Kakashi-sensei..." the boy commented with a sigh.

Kakashi looked unphased by his comment as he made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Maa, maa, Shika-_chan..."_ the silver-haired teacher cooed, almost causing the lazy boy to topple off his chair from surprise at the little nickname. "I have no control over what happens during my mornings coming to school."

'Shika-chan' made a face before looking disinterested and shrugging his shoulders.

Naruto blinked as he continued to study this 'Shika-chan.'

He found it absolutely amazing how the boy could look _so lazy _so... _effortlessly..._

Not even he, Naruto, could look and sound _that _lazy.

And Naruto found this Shika-chan utterly amazing.

-  
_Couple Classes later - Lunch time  
_-

"Oi, Na-ru-to!"

Naruto looked over to see Kiba waving to him, Shino, 'Shika-chan', Lee, and some other big guy standing with him.

"Come eat lunch with us!"

"Hai!" Naruto waved over before turning to Gaara. "C'mon, Gaara!"

"...No," Gaara grunted, turning around to walk away.

Naruto blinked in confusion before walking around the red-head and standing in his path. "Wrong way." He turned Gaara around and started shoving him in the direction of Kiba and the others. "They're _that _way."

"I said _no," _Gaara growled irritably, teeth gritted as the blonde pushed him forward incessantly.

Naruto ignored him as he hummed happily once they made it to the group of guys. He patted Gaara on the back and kept an arm slung around the red head's shoulders to prevent him from going anywhere. A vein pulsed in Gaara's temple. The group of boys stared at them for some moments before they decided it was best not to comment on the fact that Naruto was touching Gaara -- something no smart person ever did. They already distinguished Naruto wasn't the brightest one on the block.

"Hey Kiba-kun, Shino-kun, Lee-kun! Aa... Shika-chan, was it?"

"..."

The big guy almost choked on the chips he was eating as Kiba snickered and Lee blinked and Shino remained indifferent.

"...It's Nara Shikamaru," 'Shika-chan' corrected, peering at Naruto with one eye closed before he shook his head and shrugged it off.

"Aa... okay." Naruto grinned and then looked at the big guy. "...And you are...?"

The 'big guy' straightened up and saluted rather clumsily to Naruto, his other hand holding his bag of chips close to his chest. "Akimichi Chouji!"

"Chou-ji..." Naruto mused as he glanced up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Aa! You're the fa --"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Shikamaru and Kiba were covering his mouth, hasty and panicked expressions plastered on their faces. Naruto blinked in confusion.

"Nani?" he said, though it was muffled, so it was what he _tried _to say because it didn't exactly come out that way. It was more of a, "Mmf?"

Kiba and Shikamaru gave him a look before pulling their hands away. Naruto continued, "--one in my math class."

"Yeah..." Chouji answered slowly, looking at Naruto. "You were about to say..."

"Haha, he wasn't about to say anything!" Kiba roughly patted Chouji on the back and grinned. "You're imagining things, Chouji!"

"..Un..." Chouji shrugged and continued to eat his chips.

Naruto linked his hands behind his head when they started walking towards the cafeteria, but it was only when he glanced to his side did he realize that the red-head gave him the slip. Naruto paused and looked around. "Where'd Gaara go?"

"Aa forget about him," Kiba said as he slung an arm around Naruto's shoulders and urged him to keep walking. Naruto nearly stumbled but he regained his balance and footing in order to keep up with Kiba. The taller boy raised his hand and rested it on the blonde's head, ruffling his hair a bit -- something he couldn't help doing because of how cute the shorter boy looked when he puffed his cheeks from indignation and huffed. "But if I were you, I'd guard my ass around him."

Naruto stopped his huffing and puffing in order to blink up at Kiba in confusion. "Why?"

"Because." Kiba grinned knowingly and snidely, his canine fangs exposed. He then shrugged. "Ya can never be too cautious 'round _Gaara._"

Naruto creased his brows. He didn't really understand why Kiba was warning him about Gaara. As far as he could tell, there was nothing wrong with Gaara, other than that he seemed like an arrogant jerk because he was always ignoring people, but... no one can be perfect, right? Naruto wanted to interrogate Kiba more about his warning, but he didn't get to because he suddenly froze and his face went as red as a tomatoe when Kiba's arm dropped down from his shoulders and his hand --

The hairs on the back of Naruto's head stood on end and his face flushed brightly when he felt Kiba's hand _brush against his rear end._

Wide, startled blue eyes stared at Kiba, but he didn't notice. Whether it was intentional or not, Naruto couldn't tell because Kiba continued walking and chatting casually with the others.

Oh my -- Okay, calm down, Naruto. He probably didn't mean it.

Inner Naruto wasn't agreeing. Inner Naruto was throwing a fit. _Ohmygodohhedid_not_justdothat... _

Okay, I'm probably overreacting like some girl. Alright. Don't be such a girl about this Naruto. It was a complete accident --

Naruto continued walking, but as he did, Kiba chose that moment to glance at him from over his shoulder and all Hell seemed to freeze over when he noticed that _smug _and mischievous glint in Kiba's eyes.

_...oh my GOD he_ touched my ass _and he_ did it on purpose!

-

-

Haa... I never realized how fun it is to write with Kakashi until now. xD He's so cute. I love him.

But woooowww... so many reviews. -faints-

I love you guys. Ya'll are like totally awesome. I am trying to write longer chapters so I can at least feel like I deserve them... i was debating on making this chapter longer and adding more but i didn't want to make you guys wait any longer. And I had fun writing Kakashi xD He's so adorable.

And I've decided I'm just going to call each chapter "chapter 1, 2, 3, etc..." because I am far too lazy to think of spiffy chapter titles, haha. maybe another time i will. So ya.

And I promise to write longer chapters starting 4 or 5.

! sooo... don't forget to leave a review.

_-gaara is love_


	4. Strike a pose

WELL, I have absolutely ZERO internet access at my house… meaning I have to wait on the weekends when I go to mi padre's home to get on the 'net… meaning I have like all ze time in the world to write on the weekdays… kindasorta anyway. Me thinks I am going to have a job soon since I reapplied at Kohl's, had a group interview the next day, a drug screening test thingie that following day… and orientation a day or so after that... I've been told that since I've already taken the drug test and that I had to go to the orientation… that I basically have the job… SO… and i won't really have the job until I turn in some documentations... so ya...

I GET TO BRING IN THE DINERO (hopefully), becaaauusee… -sings- _I got no tengo dinero camarero… say can we work it out? _

But I hope having a job won't take away time for writing, because I'll feel so utterly deprived.

-

-

Random Quote:

"_You look familiar. Have I threatened you before?"  
_--Captain Jack Sparrow (PotC1)

**Welcome to Yaoi High**

-

-

Naruto sighed as he halted in front of R17, his expression long and miserable.

School had just ended, and unfortunately for Uzumaki Naruto, he would not be able to head to Ichiraku Ramen like he normally did right after school. On the contrary, he was obliged for his 'meeting' with Uchiha-sensei.

Well, not really a meeting.

More like **detention**.

The blonde sighed again as he rested his forehead against the door, shoulders slumped and head bowed. Even though he's only been in the school for two days, they were proving to be two horrible first days for him. If he was lucky, the Uchiha would have forgotten and wouldn't be in his classroom. Naruto pursed his lips, straightened up and braced himself when he raised a hand to knock.

_Knock._

He held his breath and shut his eyes.

…He opened one when he realized no one answered.

Naruto let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and smiled happily to himself. Well! No one was there so – can't say he didn't _try _right? He turned around to leave, already thinking of the delicious miso ramen soup that awaited him at the Haven called Ichiraku Ramen when…

Inner Naruto crumbled against a wall in dismay when seeing the Devil Himself standing in front of him. Outer Naruto abruptly pressed himself up as far against the door as he could as he clutched his heart in dismay when seeing the Devil Himself trying to balance papers and a fresh cup of coffee while attempting to fish out his keys – or more like find them – from his pockets.

"Oh _Kami… _Don't _scare _me like that…" Naruto wheezed out meekly.

Sasuke sent him a wry look before shoving his papers in the blonde's arms. "Hold that," the raven haired man grunted before managing to take out his keys without much difficulty.

Naruto grumbled incoherent words when he almost stumbled over from the suddenness of Sasuke shoving a large stack of paperwork into his arms. While Naruto stepped to the side to allow his teacher room to open the door, Inner Naruto was going over a mantra of curses and bonfire dances in an attempt to curse Uchiha Sasuke for doing a dastardly thing like showing up. Said cold and heartless teacher remained ignorant to Naruto's sulky behavior as he stalked into his classroom with the blonde dragging himself at the rear.

"Shut the door," Sasuke said, setting his coffee on his desk and slumping into his seat.

Naruto mumbled more incoherent words as he nudged the door closed with his foot. It was only then that it occurred to him that he was in the Devil's Torture Chamber all by himself. _Lord _knows what he does to poor, innocent, framed children such as Naruto…

"…Are you just going to stand there?"

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts in order to look at Sasuke. Round, cerulean eyes blinked before Naruto's features melted into a scowl when seeing the young teacher sitting there looking all high and mighty. He was leaning back in his seat, one elbow propped up on the arm of his chair with his knuckles pressed against the side of his face. One perfectly dark eyebrow was arched and his shirt was buttoned down a bit, sleeves rolled up in that same casual appearance Naruto remembered him having when he first encountered the Uchiha that led to his detention in the first place.

It was only when he saw Sasuke's expression turn into a mildly amused one that he remembered he was standing there dumbly holding a large stack of papers that were making his arms feel like led. He marched up to Sasuke's desk and dumped the contents in front of the raven haired man. Naruto watched as he started to sort through the papers.

Not bothering to look up, Sasuke drawled out dryly, "Uzumaki-san, you do not have to stand there. There is a reason that there are desks."

"Eh? Oh, right." Naruto stuck his tongue out sheepishly before sitting in one of the front row desks. He propped his elbows on the table and held his chin in his hands as he continued to watch Sasuke grade some papers. A minute or so passed by before he willed himself to ask out loud, "Ne, Uchiha-sensei, what am I supposed to do since I'm in detention?"

It wasn't that he was new to detention. He was quite experienced in it, actually, especially since he was always pulling pranks at his previous school. His teachers usually had him clean up whatever mess he left, but since his most recent detention wasn't caused because of any pranks, he wasn't sure _what _he was supposed to do.

Sasuke lifted his gaze up and gave him a long look before averting his gaze down and back to the papers in front of him. "Do homework."

"Nani? But I don't have any homework!" A lie, he knew that. But Naruto didn't _want _to do homework.

Sasuke paused in his grading in order to look at Naruto blankly. "I believe I assigned Physiology homework."

"…" He said quickly, "But I already did it during fifth class."

Sasuke's expression remained blank and unreadable before he grunted a "Hn" and went back to grading.

Watching Sasuke's reactions and his very little facial expressions reminded Naruto of Gaara.

It also made him wonder who's worse: the teacher or the red-head?

Naruto sighed as he realized that if Sasuke and Gaara were alike in the emotionless department, then detention was going to be very, very boring – unless he entertained himself, which he was quite good at.

"So what'cha gradin'?" Naruto asked curiously as he leaned forward on his desk and sat up a bit, as if that would help him to see the papers.

Sasuke didn't see the danger in answering Naruto's question, so he answered without tearing his gaze from the papers, "Class work from the other day."

"Ooh? What'd I get?"

"I haven't gotten to your paper yet."

"Do you like grading papers?"

"…No…"

"So why do you do it?"

"Because it's my job."

"Do you like your job?"

Sasuke looked up at him critically. He thought the look he gave Naruto would ask all in its own 'Why do you think I'm a teacher?,' but by the quizzical and questioning look on his student's face, he realized it didn't get through to him so he sighed and asked out loud, "Why do you think I'm a teacher?"

"Because it's easy money?"

Sasuke sighed again, albeit irritably, and went back to grading.

If he knew answering the boy's question would only lead to more, he wouldn't have answered in the first place.

Well, two could play at that game…

"So this is your like second or third year teaching here?"

"Hn."

"You're really young for a teacher."

"Hn."

"Do you like giving detention to students?"

"Hn."

"Is that a yes 'hn' or a no 'hn'? I can't tell the difference."

"Hn."

"You're really talkative, you know that?"

"…"

"You remind me of Gaara. You remember Gaara, right? Silent red-head in the same Physio class that I sit with. Well, he's always quiet too. But you're a teacher. You're supposed to be used to talking. You talk a lot when you lecture about whatever it is that you lecture 'bout. So you should be used to talking, y'know?"

For the second time in fifteen minutes, Sasuke lifted his head up and gave Naruto a long, hard look, but longer than the first time. Naruto was wondering why he was looking at him like that, and Sasuke was debating whether he made the wise choice of accepting Iruka's plea to take on Naruto for another week or two of detention. The first day was already proving Sasuke should have (politely) declined the request.

"Hey, hey, you wanna know why I got even more detention?" Naruto eagerly ranted on about that Sai guy and how he pulled off Naruto's towel and insulted his manhood and how Naruto, like the next guy, simply defended his manhood and punched that Sai guy…

Sasuke sighed and reminded himself that teachers aren't allowed to strangle, threaten, or gag their students.

-

-

"Uwaaa Sak'ra-chan!"

Like magnet to another magnet, Naruto latched himself to the pink haired girl before she could stand all the way up from her position on the couch. After Naruto came home from detention, he opened the door only to find his pink-haired best friend waiting for him while having a cup of tea with Iruka. Never in his whole life had he been happier to see the emerald-eyed girl, especially since the moment he saw her, he bolted across the living room and pounced on her, knocking her back down on the couch.

"Oooi, Naruto, you're squashing me!" Sakura reprimanded, but she was grinning for all she was worth and giggling and hugging the blonde just as tightly as he was hugging her. She missed him as well.

"Aa! I have so much to tell you, Sakura-chan!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed as he sat up and looked at her with bright, excited blue eyes.

"I bet. Iruka-sensei was telling me you already have detention," Sakura commented as she sat up as well and gave her friend a once-over look. He still looked the same – not that she expected him to have a sudden 360 in his appearance – but it was just odd seeing him in a uniform. Naruto hated formal attire.

"Detention which I don't deserve," Naruto stated haughtily. He snuck a glance at Iruka and quickly stuck his tongue out at the older man.

Iruka rolled his eyes.

Sakura sighed and thwacked him up upside the head. "Baka. You don't punch someone and _not _deserve detention."

Naruto pouted. "…But you hit me all the time and you never got detention!"

"Because that's _different_," Sakura said as if it was the most obvious answer.

"How's it different?"

"Well because I'm a _girl._"

Naruto made a face. "That's stupid."

Sakura flicked his nose and smiled teasingly. "No it's not."

Iruka smiled at the two before he stood up in order to dismiss himself. "I'll leave you two alone. I'm sure you have a lot of catching up to do."

"Arigatou, Iruka-sensei," Sakura and Naruto chorused, smiling as they watched him leave.

Indeed, they did have plenty of catching up to do. It was practically a month since they've seen each other… what-with Naruto and Iruka moving, and Naruto locking himself up and sulking his first week of school, and then being caught up with his first two days…

He latched himself to Sakura and cried dramatically. "…School's _so _horrible!"

Sakura couldn't help but sympathize with him a bit – although a little teensy bit – as she patted his blonde locks down in order to soothe him. "I'm sure it's not _that _bad…"

"But it's _really _bad!"

It was funny when she thought about it; when she thought about how, when they were younger and Naruto had the biggest crush on her, any physical contact would lead her to punch him. But now? He was clinging to her and she was patting him on the head as if it was the most natural thing to do… which it was. They grew up together; watched each other change (even though Naruto hardly changed at all, whereas Sakura did a complete 360). If there was anyone either were most comfortable with, it was with each other.

They weren't _just _best friends. Sakura was like the sister Naruto never had; Naruto like the brother Sakura always wanted.

For the longest time, they were each other's support.

And that's what made Naruto's move all the more harder.

Call it separation anxiety.

Naruto went into a detailed explanation from his first meeting with Gaara and all up to his detention with Uchiha-sensei-teme.

And Sakura realized why Naruto thought it was so bad, because it seemed like he wasn't going to a _normal _school, but rather a yaoi-infested one.

(Though Inner Sakura was secretly cooing over the prospect of seeing cute boys making out and urging Sakura to pay her favorite blonde a visit one day at school… to which a secretly flustered Sakura squashed her Inner self down).

Naruto let out another torrent of (anime-style) tears and Sakura left for a moment and came back with a freshly warmed-up cup of ramen that she offered to him as comfort. He gladly took it and his tears turned into sniffles before he sulkily slurped at his noodles.

"…I want to go back with you guys," Naruto finally commented with a long sigh.

Sakura looked at him and felt a pang in her chest. He did look utterly miserable being there, and if she could, she would take him back with her. But… it wouldn't be fair to Iruka. Iruka needed someone like Naruto in his life, probably more than she did. So, Sakura made a face and let out a long sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Maa, maa…"

Naruto gave her a confused look. Sakura ignored it as she feigned a dismayed and impatient sigh.

"Whatever happened to the Naruto that I knew? He always saw everything as a challenge that he took head-on with the same energy and eagerness that he put into everything else…"

Sakura paused for a moment and hid a smirk when she received the reaction she was hoping for.

"Waa? But I am Naruto!"

She quickly stopped smirking in order to hang her head and shake it. "I believe I'm going to have to beg to differ…"

Naruto pouted and set his cup of ramen down on the coffee table. He stood up abruptly and struck the 'Good Guy Pose.'

Sakura blinked.

_Well that's new…_

"Uzumaki Naruto never turns down a challenge! I will see to this new school as a challenge, and I will rise victorious!" And he flashed a 'V' for Victory.

Inner Sakura blanched at his pose and his choice for words. Outer Sakura… blanched as well.

'_Victorious'? And what's with the pose?_

Sakura rubbed the back of her neck uncertainly. _Maybe that school's bad for Naruto after all…_

Next time she sees him, he'll probably be wearing a leotard.

The mental image of him in one made her groan.

_Oh God… let's not think about that._

Something seemed to click in Naruto's head as he suddenly grabbed her hand, blue eyes bright. "Oh, Sakura-chan! I have to show you something that I found!"

"Hm, nani?" Sakura blinked, but didn't protest when he dragged her out of the house and forced her to stumble and jog in order to keep up with the energetic blonde.

-

-

For a moment Sakura thought Naruto had found something that would 'blow her away' and surprise her to no end. She thought maybe he had found some gorgeous scenery that could never be found back at the city she lived in. She thought Naruto was going to show her something beyond her wildest comprehension, but she found herself standing in front of a humble ramen stand and thought a humble ramen stand in all its own humbleness was wonderful and great to Naruto, and that she realized she wasn't at all surprised by what he presented to her.

And it made her smile when she saw the humble ramen stand called _Ichiraku Ramen._

And it made her feel warm and fuzzy and relieved knowing Naruto found something that could make him so happy, even if it was something as simple as a ramen stand.

She knew of his abnormal abundance of love for ramen. They always went to stands back in the city, but the way Naruto's face lit up and his mouth start to drool just from the sight of the stand made her think this place must have much better ramen than in the city.

Which, Naruto concluded for her, it _did _have better ramen than in the city because he went on saying, "The ramen here is better than in the city. You have to try some, Sakura-chan!"

Normally she would protest or deny his offer, but because it's been well over a month since she last saw him and had ramen, she concurred with a smile. "Alright, Naruto."

He immediately ushered her to sit on one of the stools before he took it upon himself to order for them both. He pulled out his frog wallet that Sakura remembered him _always _having. She didn't know why, but seeing Naruto and other familiar things such as that wallet made her feel better. She would never admit it, but being away from her best friend for a month left her heartbroken. It'd probably break her heart again when she would have to go home, but at least she was with him then and there.

She silently thanked the faculty at her school for giving students a day off because of a faculty meeting they were having.

"Okay, Sakura-chan!"

Naruto handed her a pair of chopsticks and nudged her bowl of miso ramen soup to her. "Bon apatite!"

And so, as if some unsaid tradition or ritual demanded, Sakura made a show of folding her napkin on her lap, snapping her chopsticks in half, setting the bowl so it was directly in front of her and giving it a good, long scrutinizing look. Naruto's eyes remained glued on her with obvious eagerness and anticipation for how she would find the ramen. She bit back a laugh and urged herself on to go ahead and oblige to Naruto's wishes and try the ramen. She scooped a good amount of noodles with her chopsticks, blew it and then took an experimental taste.

"…Weeeeell?" Naruto demanded.

Sakura looked at him, still chewing and slurping up some noodles. She then flashed him a grin to pacify his curiosity.

"It's great, Naruto."

His expression melted into a wide grin. That was the most praise he ever heard her give over ramen, and it was enough for him. Naruto started eating his own ramen when Sakura tapped her chopsticks together and commented, "But y'know, I hope you don't continue your habit of eating ramen _all _the time. It's not healthy."

Naruto ducked his head, sighed through his nostrils and muttered, "Yare, yare…"

"What was that, Naruto?" Sakura sent him a look.

He ducked his head lower and pretended to be busy stuffing his face with ramen. "Nothing, Sak'ra-chan!"

"Aa, Naruto-kun!"

Both occupants of the humble ramen stand turned around in their seats in order to look inquisitively at who called for Naruto. A look of recognition instantly dawned on said boy's face as he grinned and waved. "Lee!"

Now, Sakura wasn't one to judge a person by their looks… Okay, maybe when she was _younger _she had a _habit _of doing _just that…_But she wasn't the same shallow little girl anymore. Then again, seeing a boy with a strange bowl-shaped hair cut, just as strange, thick eyebrows, and even stranger, wide round eyes walk up to them and strike a pose left her slightly suspicious…

Of course, her suspicion only rose when seeing Lee strike a similar pose to the one Naruto did when declaring he would be victorious…

Another thing about Sakura was that she would never admit she was _slightly _protective of her blonde friend… Well, maybe _slightly _was an understatement, but she wouldn't even admit _that _to herself. The moment she put two and two together and realized this 'Lee' guy, who could very much well be one of Naruto's new friends from his yaoi-infested school, could be corrupting Naruto with strange ideas.

Strange poses.

Strange, corny words.

And so, she eyed Lee with suspicion before quickly grinning when Naruto looked at her in order to introduce them both.

"Sakura! This is Rock Lee. He's one of my new friends."

"Aa, nice to meet you, Lee –"

…What made her even _more _wary and cautious of this Lee character – and what she wasn't expecting – were the hearts that suddenly sprouted in his eyes before he instantly composed himself in order to flash her a dashing and charming grin. She was even taken aback when his teeth glinted like sun glaring off of clear glass. Inner Sakura seemed to have a heart attack when Lee winked at her before sweeping down in a gallant bow. He took her hand and leaned in to place a sweet kiss on the back of her palm… but she quickly pulled her hand away and held it with her other one.

Naruto blinked, but didn't think much of the odd little exchange as he grinned, "Lee, this is my best friend, Haruno Sakura."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sakura-chan!" Lee quipped as he stood up, not phased by the fact that she pulled her hand away. It only seemed to urge him on more, actually. "I think Sakura-chan is very pretty!"

"Um… thanks." Sakura smiled a bit awkwardly, but was grateful for the comment. Regardless of how weird a person may look, it always made a girl feel good to be told she's pretty.

"I've known Sakura for practically ever," Naruto was telling Lee as the boy sat next to him. "She came to visit me today."

"That's nice. Something I would expect from such a sweet looking girl like Sakura-chan," Lee cooed with an appreciative swoon.

"Heh…" Sakura was thankful Naruto was sitting between her and Lee, or else she would be feeling the full onslaught of his battering eyelashes and goo-goo eyes.

"Are you going to be staying for a while, Sakura-chan?" Lee asked curiously.

But Sakura noticed that _ever so hopeful _look plastered on his face that made her want to say 'no, I was just about to leave.' Then she remembered she was here for one reason and one reason only: Naruto. Sakura bit back a sigh and forced a grin. "Yeah. I'll be leaving tonight."

"Will you be stopping by Konoha often?"

Even more hopeful.

Sakura twitched. "Aa, yes, I'll try to…"

"Of course she'll try to! Sakura-chan misses me too much!" Naruto piped in, to which Sakura was grateful for.

Lee beamed at that and nodded in agreement. "That's _really _nice of you!"

"Er, yeah." Sakura wasn't used to comments. The pretty comment was enough for her. He should have left it at that, Inner Sakura grumbled.

After that, Naruto ordered Lee a bowl of ramen, and Naruto ordered himself another… and then another… and another. Lee was very much surprised (and impressed) by the amounts of ramen he could indulge in, but Sakura wasn't very surprised or impressed, but more-so amused and slightly naggy over her wanting him to eat healthier food. He would just laugh at her (as usual) and tell her that ramen wasn't going to kill him, to which she would add that if he ate just enough, then it _could _kill him.

Naruto didn't listen to her. He never did when it had to do with ramen.

She would then sigh and give up because there was nothing no one could do to persuade Naruto to eat something other than ramen.

Sakura would then realize that Naruto without ramen was like a day without the sun.

And she would accept, because it wasn't that she was eager to change him or his love or fetish for whatever odd food/things.

The three of them had a nice talk at the humble little ramen stand and for a while, Sakura thought Lee wasn't _that _bad (when he wasn't making goo-goo eyes at her). It was nice seeing Naruto all happy, so it made Lee's goo-goo eyes all the more bearable.

But, well, if one day she went on and punched his eyes in, then she couldn't be held responsible…

"Well, I shall be going now," Lee declared after Naruto finished his fifth bowl of ramen.

"Alright, Lee! I'll see ya tomorrow!" Naruto said with his usual grin that Lee returned.

Lee stood up before turning to Sakura and dipping into another gallant bow. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Sakura-chan! I hope we can meet again!"

"Aa… yeah…" Although Sakura silently hoped their future encounters would be kept to a minimum, she smiled. "It was nice meeting you too, Lee-kun."

An unmistakable blush was on his face and Sakura almost regretted smiling and saying that, and was regretting it more when Lee winked and looked like he was about to send her a fly kiss.

Which he did.

And she swore upon everything swearable that hearts literally flew at her.

But Naruto watched in awe as she used skills neither knew she had to dodge the incoming bombardment of hearts and fly kisses. Sakura was about to pat herself proudly on the back when one fly kiss snuck up on her and planted itself firmly on her cheek. Lee winked again and left cheerily.

Inner Sakura crumbled to pieces.

Sakura clutched her heart and wheezed dramatically before falling.

Naruto watched her fall.

He crouched beside her and looked down at her in amusement.

"I never knew fly kisses could be so deadly."

"Neither did I," Sakura grumbled, pushing herself up and rubbing her back. She shot Naruto a look before attempting to hit him upside his head, but he ducked in time. "Baka. You were supposed to catch me."

He stuck his tongue out sheepishly. "Sorry! I'll remember to next time?"

They were interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

Naruto and Sakura looked up to see the owner of Ichiraku Ramen looking down at them with an expectant look.

"I haven't received money for the last..." He tallied off using his fingers. "Five... six bowls of ramen."

"Ooh, right! Gomen, jii-san," Naruto apologized as he fished out his frog wallet. He started fumbling through it for coins. "I have the money… right… here…"

He trailed off.

He realized he didn't have any more money.

Sakura was adjusting her headband while the owner was waiting patiently.

Naruto glanced at Sakura.

Sakura remained oblivious.

He glanced at her again. "Ano…"

Sakura looked at him – and immediately regretted doing so because she was met by his infamous puppy-dog eyes.

She let out a long sigh. "Naruto… you never change."

"Eheh…" He rubbed the back of his head in a sheepish manner. Sakura paid the owner the amount due. "Thanks, Sakura-chan. This'll be the last time, I swear!"

Sakura eyed him playfully as they walked off. "That's what you said last time."

"Aa… I did?" He scratched his cheek with his index finger in a thoughtful fashion. "…Well I mean it this time!"

"If you say so, Naruto." Sakura linked her hands behind her back as she walked ahead of him.

They walked for a while in silence. The sun was already scarcely peeking over the horizon, and it was obvious it wouldn't be long before night would fall. By then, Sakura and Naruto were walking hand-in-hand, a purely friendly gesture between the two.

"I should be going," Sakura finally said with a sigh. "I need to catch the train."

"You should ditch school tomorrow and stay here with me for another day," Naruto suggested as he made a face at the idea of her leaving.

"I wish…" She let out another sigh.

She wasn't too keen on leaving Naruto with people like Lee.

Naruto was so easily corruptible.

Who knows what she would come to the next time she came to visit him?

The consequences could be disastrous…

(At that moment, a mental image of Naruto posing in a leotard crossed her mind. Inner Sakura chased it away with a big heavy axe).

"Want me to walk you to the station?" the blonde asked as he tilted his head to her.

She shook her head. "No, it's okay. It's way out of your way. Besides, I'll be fine on my own." Sakura made a dismissive gesture with her free hand before using that hand to ruffle his hair (to which he scowled). "I'll come visit you next time, ok?"

He pouted. "And when will next time be?"

"Dunno." His pink haired friend tapped his nose. "Just don't fatten yourself up with ramen while I'm away." She let go of his hand and started heading off in the opposite direction. Sakura smiled and waved him off.

"Ja, Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out, waving as he watched her disappear.

He sighed to himself when she was too far to see.

He turned around to leave, but halted when he saw the Devil Himself standing in front of him with a raised eyebrow, a bag of what looked like Chinese take out in his arm, and a coffee in his other hand.

"You're really loud."

Naruto stuck his tongue out. "That's nice of you to notice, Uchiha-_sensei._"

Although Naruto added the 'sensei' part in a mocking fashion, Sasuke didn't give much of a reaction. He merely shrugged, brushed past Naruto, and continued on his way. But he paused in order to add, "I'll be seeing you tomorrow in class… and detention, Uzumaki."

And Naruto knew for a fact he only said that to mock _him._

-

**To be continued.**

-

**O plzplzplz. If you ever like sent me a suggestion via FF-message or e-mail for this fic, plz send me it again… I accidentally deleted all of my e-mail, and I know I had some suggestions, and I would like them again so I can view them. TwT. And if you have any suggestions _at all… _really, go ahead and message me them. All suggestions would help me out soooo much.**

**ADVERTISES  
**Ooh, and I am looking for a beta-reader, haha. Sooo… anyone with like awesomely awesome grammatical skills… send me a message via FF dot net or e-mail. I (desperately) need one, and I am getting over my stubbornness to try and find one.

**And plz note: **yes, this is a boy+boy ficcie… I just couldn't help but add the Lee-having-a-crush-on-Sakura part. That was one of my favorite things from Naruto. Cracked me up. –pets Lee- And never fear! There will be longer moments for SasuNaru… I just don't want to rush things. –winks- So patience, young grasshoppers!

_--gaara is love-sama _(Thanks, Crimson Sun, hehehe –pets-)

(Or just Gaara-sama –ego inflated-)

(And I am making the chapters longer… a few hundred words at a time! –proud-)

(And... I need to learn to be patient when I write. I was too eager to get this chapter done that I've become rather sloppy.)

(And me thinks I need to stop leaving long author's notes).


	5. Cowcrossing in Konoha

Yess I have a beta-reader now: Mai. -hearts her- I'll get her started on her duties... next chapter, haha. So, ya, this chapter is unedited. And I typed it on wordpad... soo... ya... no spelling error check. Umm, hehe. pardon all spelling errors and anything else that doesn't make sense.

And I'm blown away by all the great reviews so far. Thanks guys.

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Random Quote  
_"Ka-choooow."  
_-- Walt Disney's _Cars, _Lightning McQueen

**Welcome to Yaoi High**

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"Kakashi-sensei."

"Uzumaki."

"..."

"..."

Student and teacher stared at each other, paused in front of their homeroom class.

"You're late," Kakashi said curtly.

"So are you," Naruto said just as curtly.

(And _so _not his fault, the blonde would like to point out. His alarm clock didn't go off -- though Iruka had pointed out he forgot to turn it on before he went to sleep -- making him and Iruka miss their bus ride to school.)

"I missed my bus. What's your excuse?" the blonde decided to ask with a smug looking smirk.

"Cow crossing."

"...Nani?" Bright blue eyes blinked at him in confusion.

Kakashi's eyes curved in that ever so familiar fashion. He was wearing a turtle neck this time (no scarf), and Naruto couldn't help but muse over how his silver-haired teacher seemed to always keep the lower half of his face hidden.

"Cow crossing," Kakashi repeated, one finger raised in a matter-of-fact manner. "I came by a herd of cows at an intersection and I could not get through until they all went by."

Naruto's mouth went into the shape of an 'O.' "Sou ka... I didn't know there were cows in Konoha..."

Kakashi continued smiling with eyes closed and all in that innocent fashion of his. "Yep. We have cows."

Naruto seemed to be in current amazement as the blonde decided to muse over the ideas of a large herd of cows crossing at an intersection, so Kakashi took it upon himself to grasp his student's shoulders and oh so kindly steer him into their homeroom class. No one paid much attention as they continued about their business, chit-chattering and chewing gum and listening to their IPods and whatever other things teenagers seemed to preoccupy themselves with these days...

Kakashi shooed Naruto to his seat and the blonde plopped down in front of a certain red-head.

Naruto could swear said red-head's face was permanently stuck in that blank and indifferent look Gaara sent him when Naruto turned to face him with his usual vibrant grin (Really, it was so bright it could blind even the darkest of souls).

"Ne, Gaara, did you know there are cows in Konoha?" Naruto asked with a tilt of his head.

Blank jaded eyes blinked at him slowly.

Gaara sat there in his usual calm -- and indifferent -- fashion: leaned back, arms crossed and eyes closed. And he replied in his usual calm -- and indifferent -- fashion: "Konoha does not have cows."

"..._Nani?_" Naruto looked appalled. "But Kakashi-sensei said --"

"Say that again."

He looked at Gaara in confusion.

Gaara peered at him.

"Kakashi-sensei said..." Naruto trailed off, and then it hit him. He groaned as he smacked his hand to his forehead. "...Right. Kakashi-sensei's a big fat _lying bastard!"_

Silly him. How could he forget?

Gaara resumed his devil-may-care posture (arms crossed, eyes closed).

Naruto was about to stand up and point and accuse Kakashi of being a big fat lying bastard, but said big fat lying bastard had cleared his throat and drawled out for order in the classroom so he could take role. Naruto had his cheeks puffed out indignantly throughout the rest of Homeroom.

---

Blue eyes scanned the flyer curiously.

He scratched his chin.

He blew at his blonde bangs.

"...Hm. Free Tae Kwon Do classes, eh?"

Naruto squinted his eyes closed in his usual thoughtful manner. He scratched his whiskered cheek. He was standing in one of the many halls, in front of a bulletin board where announcements were usually posted on banners and pinned to the board. He never really paid much heed to the thing, but a certain lime green -- and very bright -- piece of paper had caught his attention.

It only caught his attention because it reminded him of something... but he seemed to be forgetting what. It was something he had been meaning to do for quite some time, that is, ever since he came out to Konoha.

"...Hm. Tae Kwon Do, eh?"

Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts by a second person's voice. He turned to look at the newcomer, startled, but didn't have to turn far -- or much at all -- to see it was Kiba. He was looking at the flyer from over Naruto's shoulders. It was only then the blonde realized how _close _they were, reminding him of the little slip-of-the-hand incident, therefore making him wish to push the other bigger guy as _far _from him as possible.

But then a lightbulb clicked somewhere deep inside his head, shining light on even the darkest of corners in his mind.

"Aha!"

"Aha?" Kiba chorused, clearly confused. He raised a questioning eyebrow at Naruto.

"Yeah!" Naruto beamed at him. "I just remembered what I forgot to do!"

Kiba stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate further.

But the blonde seemed far too caught up in his beaming.

And so, Kiba pinched his cheeks and tugged them, making Naruto blink in confusion before scowling, though it didn't look much like a scowl what-with his cheeks being pulled and all. Kiba grinned. "You didn't say what it is you forgot to do, baka."

Naruto stuck his tongue out when Kiba released him, and he opted to rubbing his now red cheeks before he so much as gave Kiba a response. When he did, he seemed to have completely forgotten Kiba had pinched his cheeks because he was beaming much more brightly than earlier. "Well...! Re-enroll in martial arts classes!"

"..." Kiba looked skeptical. "Re... enroll?"

"Yeah!" Naruto struck a pose. "In my old hometown, I took martial arts. I'm a black belt, y'know!"

Kiba continued looking incredulous before he barked out a laugh. Naruto looked positively perplexed before he realized Kiba didn't believe him. He puffed his cheeks out with indignation, face red and flustered. "What!"

"It's just hard to imagine someone as skinny and small as you as a... black belt in martial arts," Kiba confessed teasingly, poking Naruto's nose. Said dog-lover was grinning that usual toothy grin of his (and it was only when they were close that Naruto sometimes noticed that the taller boy had canine teeth).

But as it were, Inner Naruto was currently cursing and swearing and shouting obsenities at being insulted, but Outer Naruto _tried _to remain calm... though the vein twitching in his temple and the clenching of fist spoke otherwise. Kiba was a newly acquired friend. It would not bode so well if he beat up said new friend... plus Naruto was already in trouble as it was...

Then again, they were in school. School was for educating purposes. Educating was used to teach students _lessons. _It never hurt if the students picked up their own _lessons _while not in class, right?

That was why Kiba was definitely not prepared when Naruto suddenly turned around, pushed himself against Kiba, grabbed one of his forearms, and effortlessly threw him over his back and shoulder, sending Kiba flying over him and on to his back. He was left blinking at the ceiling in a dazed fashion with a grinning Naruto staring down at him. The blonde was crouched down, forearms propped on his knees as he grinned snidely. "I don't think a skinny little nobody could throw someone as heavy as you like that, hm?"

"I guess not," the dazed boy grinned up at Naruto, though there was some sheepishness in his expression.

"Guess you're not as helpless and vulnerable as I thought you were," Kiba decided to add teasingly.

Naruto rolled his eyes and stood back up, helping Kiba up in the process.

"Heh heh..." Kiba attempted to stretch, but winced when he cracked his back (rather loudly, too).

Naruto instantly looked guilty. "Aa, gomen nasai, Kiba..." He scratched the back of his head, squinted his eyes and took his turn in looking sheepish.

"Nah, it's ok." He ruffled Naruto's hair, an action he was already growing into the habit of doing. "I underestimated you, shrimp."

"...What'd ya call me?!" Naruto instantly flared up, all previous guilt forgotten.

He's been called _many _things... but never a... a... _shrimp!_

Kiba merely laughed and continued walking, waving dismissively at the blonde who only followed him persistently. "You... _jerk!_ I'll kick your ass!"

"Ya, ya..." _Ain't that the truth, _Kiba mentally added, shaking his head in amusement.

And then Kiba suddenly stopped as _he _remembered something. He turned around to face the blonde who was currently too busy ranting and raving at being called a shrimp and -- _you no good jerk I seriously will kick your ass! 3 o'clock! After school! Next to that clock tower thingamajig...! -- _what-not to notice Kiba had stopped. It only took Naruto bumping into him to realize he had paused. Naruto scowled. "Oi! Watch it!"

"So you're interested in re-enrolling in martial arts classes?"

Naruto blinked. "Eh?"

"Are you or aren't you?"

He nodded dumbly.

Kiba grinned. "Well, I know a good spot in town. If you're interested, I could show you after school."

Naruto was slightly suspicious and wary. For all he knew, the guy could have _other _intentions... such as luring him into a dark alley way and molesting him to death.

But then his eyes lit up at the prospect of finding another martial arts class. He loved his previous one, but he couldn't afford commuting from Konoha to there, so it'd be easier to attend a local one...

"Well..."

But then his face fell when he remembered something, again.

"...but I have detention after school."

Kiba shrugged. "Then, how 'bout Saturday?"

Naruto thought it over before clapping his hands together. "Saturday it is!"

"Then it's a date."

And Kiba walked off, leaving a gaping Naruto.

"A... _what? _But... but... I'm not even gay!"

Kiba paused and glanced at him from over his shoulder, a feral grin on his face. "But I am."

And he kept walking.

And Naruto kept gaping.

Kakashi once mused over how _well _Naruto imitated a goldfish so...

And said silver-haired teacher couldn't help but think it again as he passed down the halls just in time to see said blonde gaping at nothing in particular.

Hohoho. Kodak Moment.

Kakashi continued on his merry way, humming a very catchy tune.

Just as he was gone, a certain dark-haired, young man decided to walk by as well.

"...Uzumaki, what _are _you doing?"

Naruto snapped his jaws shut and looked up at a skeptical Uchiha Sasuke. He tried to look serious and calm as he said, "...Nothing, Uchiha-_sensei." (Uchiha-_teme, _more like it, _Inner Naruto yelled, shaking a fist.)

Sasuke stared at him blankly.

"..."

Naruto's resolve cracked, along with his supposedly serious and calm expression. "...It's none of your business! Go grade some papers or something!"

"...Hm." Sasuke looked to be contemplating something before he came to a decision. "Alright." He then started to head back to his class room, a fresh cup of steaming coffee in hand before he halted and added as an afterthought: "Expect detention to be more interesting from now on, Uzumaki."

Naruto blinked in confusion, but before he could venture on with any questions, the bell rang, signaling the end of break.

He puffed up and realized what a waste his fifteen minutes of freedom went to when he had been hoping to spend that time buying and indulging himself in snacks.

Snacking reminded him of being thirsty.

Being thirsty reminded him of the fact that he needed to go to the bathroom.

So he started to do a little Pee-pee dance, looking around frantically. He was still new to the area, so he wasn't sure where the bathroom was...

---

"...and because I could not find a bathroom _right away... _I was therefore late to class!" Naruto concluded as he squinted up at an expressionless Uchiha.

"..." Sasuke sighed. "Whatever. Go to your seat, Uzumaki." He made a dismissive gesture, and the blonde beamed as he quickly scuttled to his seat near Gaara.

Sasuke resumed his lesson; something about cells and membranes and other things Naruto couldn't bother to remember or listening to no matter how many times his dear Iruka-sensei emphasized the _importance _of getting a good education and actually _learning _something in school. Naruto yawned as he gazed boredly at his Physiology teacher. It was his second week of school, and as far as he knew, his Heartless Physio and Math teacher never so much as cracked a smile. Not even a smirk.

If he smiles, he'd probably scare off the kids, Naruto thought with a snigger.

"Something funny, Uzumaki?"

Naruto sat up abruptly. "Aa, no, sensei! Nothing!"

"Then please, pay attention to class and stop dazing off."

"Hai, sensei..."

Naruto lowered his head with a small scowl. But it wasn't long before he lost himself in his thoughts again. So far, his first two weeks of school weren't _that _bad. Other than having Kiba 'accidentally' graze his butt, and Sai pull his towel down, and landing himself into so-and-so weeks of detention... everything seemed to be going well by then. As for detention, it remained the same as his first day with Sasuke grading papers and Naruto being bored and trying to entertain himself but always being told to hush up and do his homework. He couldn't help but wonder what Uchiha-sensei had planned now after he said detention wasn't going to be that boring anymore...

Naruto tapped his chin with the eraser of his pencil.

But then he started wondering what the Uchiha's definition as _more interesting _was...

Naruto had a bad feeling about this.

---

"...And _then _he called it a _date!" _

Naruto arched his back side ways as he brought one arm over his head and held his other hand on his waist.

"Can you believe it, Gaara?!"

He arched his back the other way and switched his arms positions.

"...Hn."

Gaara merely grunted as he and Naruto moved to the ground and started doing push-up's.

"I mean, who does he think he is, calling it a date? I never agreed to that!"

Up down up down up down...

"..."

"That _jerk..._" Huff. Huff. Puff.

Up down up down up down...

Gaara merely wondered _why _Naruto was telling him things that really didn't matter to him.

"I'm not even gay," Naruto added as he paused to wipe sweat from his forehead.

The sound of a whistle blowing interrupted their exercise, followed by Gai exclaiming, "Well done my students! Now up to your feet and four laps around the track!"

Gai's class broke out into a sprint, Rock Lee ahead of everyone else as he more than willingly rushed on to fulfill his teacher's wishes. Naruto momentarily stopped talking to Gaara in order to concentrate on running and beating his red-headed friend. But as he ran, something at the corner of his eye caught his attention. Naruto glanced over and nearly fell when he saw it was that freak who had pulled his towel off. Ever since the shower incident, Naruto didn't have any other encounters with him, but here was that Sai guy, running beside him with a pleasant (and oh so fake) look on his face.

He made running look like a walk in the park.

He glanced at Naruto and Naruto looked back and wanted to punch him again when he saw a smirk on Sai's face.

But before he even got the chance to try, Sai had suddenly ran ahead of him.

"Ooii!" Naruto quickly ran faster, shaking his fist. He was _not _about to let this guy beat him.

Gaara was thinking the same thing -- about both of them -- as he picked up the pace as well.

Rock Lee, who was ahead of everyone else, glanced over his shoulder to see Sai, Naruto and Gaara gradually catching up. He beamed brightly and slowed down a bit, waiting until he was jogging next to Naruto before he picked up speed again. "Naruto-kun!"

"Eh, Fuzzy Eyebrows!"

Lee seemed the least bit phased by the nickname. "When is Sakura-chan coming down again?"

"I don't know," Naruto looked at him in confusion.

Gaara and Sai glanced at them.

Naruto didn't notice they had gotten ahead of him due to 'Fuzzy Eyebrow's' distraction.

"I hope I can see her again," Lee confessed with starry eyes. He was looking up at the sky where he was no doubtedly imagining a certain pink-haired girl smiling sweetly at him and blowing an imaginary kiss that he caught and held close to his heart. He sighed dreamily. Naruto looked at him strangely.

Weeeeiirdd guy... Inner Naruto nodded in agreement.

Oi, they're getting ahead, Inner Naruto suddenly pointed out.

Naruto blinked and looked forward, and much to his dismay, Gaara and Sai were indeed very much ahead. "...Ooiii, wait up!"

Said blonde sprinted faster with a certain Lee following right next to him, a dreamy expression still plastered on his face as he imagined what his next encounter with Haruno Sakura would be like.

Thinking of her gave Rock Lee strength he never knew he had. He felt more determined than ever! Maybe it was her sparkling emerald eyes or the soft hue of her hair... but whatever it was, Rock Lee was going to finish these four laps in four minutes for his dear Sakura-chan!

...Which was why Naruto was left gaping as Lee suddenly sprinted way ahead of him, passed Gaara and Sai, and ran inhumanly fast.

Whatever Lee was eating for lunch, Naruto wanted some of that, too.

---

Detention. Such a hateful word, but a word Naruto was used to all the same. At his previous school, he got detention all the time. Nothing new to him. But he was starting to dread it, ever since the Uchiha told him to expect it to be more _interesting -- _And Lord only knew what _his _definition of interesting was. Naruto sighed as he pushed his way into Uchiha Sasuke's class, book bag in hand. He dumped it on a nearby desk and slouched into a seat.

Such a hateful word, but a word Naruto was used to all the same. At his previous school, he got detention all the time. Nothing new to him. But he was starting to dread it, ever since the Uchiha told him to expect it to be more And Lord only knew what definition of interesting was. Naruto sighed as he pushed his way into Uchiha Sasuke's class, book bag in hand. He dumped it on a nearby desk and slouched into a seat. 

As usual, Sasuke was grading some papers. He glanced up when Naruto came in before looking back down. "Don't get too comfortable."

Naruto perked up somewhat. "Are we going outside?"

"...Sort of."

Sasuke put his pencil down, pushed his chair back and stood up. He gestured Naruto to follow him so the blonde bounced up and obliged. They wandered down the hall and Naruto was looking around curiously, wondering exactly _where _they were going. He figured whatever Sasuke had in store for him was much better than spending forever inside that stuffy classroom with nothing to do but _homework _(that he never actually did anyway. He was normally too busy doodling and what-not to actually _do _his assignments).

They didn't stop walking until they came upon a janitor who was currently mopping up a spill that leaked out from one of the boy's bathrooms. Apparently someone had tossed a cherry bomb into one of the toilets and, well, you could probably imagine the damage it caused. Water had leaked out from the bathroom and had flooded one of the halls.

Sasuke walked up to the janitor, one hand in his pocket, the other outstretched. "Hiroshi-san, may I borrow that mop for a minute?"

The older man looked confused but he handed Sasuke the mop anyway.

Sasuke turned around and handed Naruto the mop.

It was Naruto's turn to look confused.

Sasuke turned around again. "Hiroshi-san, you don't have to worry about the spill. Uzumaki here will mop it up for you."

"I am..?" Naruto blurted out.

The old man beamed happily as he patted Naruto on the head. "Thank you, young man!" He bowed to Sasuke, who returned the gesture and he went on his merry way.

"Well, have fun," Sasuke said, stuffing both hands in his pockets and stalking back to his classroom.

"Hey! I don't want to do this!"

Sasuke didn't respond.

"Oooiii...!!"

He disappeared around a corner, leaving Naruto alone with a mop, a bucket, and a flooded hall way.

"..."

"This is so not cool!"

And to emphasize his point, he shook his mop.

But he was only met with silence in response. Sighing and shouldering the mop, he surveyed the damage with a critical eye and placed his other hand on his jutted hip. He should have known 'interesting' for Uchiha Sasuke would _not _be interesting for Uzumaki Naruto. He muttered colorful words (much too colorful to expose to innocent eyes) as he set to work mopping up the hall.

Before he got anywhere near started, Sasuke suddenly peeked his head from around the corner. "Oh, and when you're done, Uzumaki, go and fetch me some coffee from the teacher lounge."

It wasn't a question, or a favor. It was a command.

Sasuke disappeared again, leaving a fuming Naruto behind.

While he mopped, Naruto wondered what ways he could tamper with the Uchiha's coffee in the least inconspicious manner.

---

"Here you go, Uchiha-sensei!"

Sasuke looked up to find a beaming Naruto. Except he wasn't necessarily beaming, more like grinning in one of those I-know-something-you-don't kinda ways. Sasuke eyed him suspiciously.

"I mopped up the hall and I got you your coffee!"

Naruto set the mug down on his desk.

Sasuke turned his suspicious gaze to the coffee. Onyx eyes looked back up, but Naruto's eyes were squinted close in a cat-like manner that didn't allow anyone to be aware of any other emotions other than that _very _suspicious grin on his face. Naruto's grin only seemed to stretch out more (if possible).

"...You can go now... I guess..."

"Great!"

Naruto hummed to himself as he picked up his book bag and left just as cheerily as he came in.

Sasuke frowned as he watched him leave. He thought after doing the mopping and fetching him coffee, the blonde would be feeling miserable and down, but it proved to have quite the opposite affect... He looked at his coffee and picked it up, sniffing it. It smelt like coffee. He flicked his tongue out, testing it. It tasted like coffee. So now that he concluded his coffee was safe... why did he get the feeling that Uzumaki kid did something he _wasn't _going to like?

But whatever it was, Sasuke decided to dismiss it since he had more pressing matters to attend to: such as going home and... grading more papers. The story of his life. Sasuke sighed and stacked his papers neatly before holding them beneath his arm and his coat and coffee in the other. He was heading to the front, towards the teacher parking lot, but in order to get there, he had to pass through the hall Naruto had mopped up. That wasn't much of a problem to Sasuke because that way he was able to see just how well Naruto cleaned up.

The floors were spotless -- better than what he expected.

But that wasn't what made Sasuke stop.

It was the graffitti on the wall that did.

Apparently Naruto was quite the artist, because there were some pictures of Sasuke himself (chibified), being hit by a car, along with the words "UZUMAKI NARUTO WAS HERE" enscribed in large lettering.

Sasuke growled to himself as he clenched his cup.

A vein pulsed in his temple.

"..._Uzumaki... _Usuratonkachi!"

---

As Naruto walked on home, he walked still humming that same tune from when he left the Uchiha's classroom.

He was swinging his book bag around and grinning to himself.

Though he didn't do anything to Sasuke's coffee, he hoped he like the gift he left in the hall...

Nyahaha.

---

Sasuke sighed as he walked into his apartment, not bothering to turn on the light, but instead turning on a lamp. He loosened up his tie and dropped his papers and jacket on a nearby coffee table. He was normally more organized than this, but at the moment, he couldn't bother. The couch looked far too comfortable. It wasn't that he didn't have any energy to tidy himself up -- well he _didn't, _actually -- he was just far too tired. After that little _thing _Naruto pulled in the hall, he had to go report it to the Headmaster, but that didn't take up a lot of time.

Handling students was very tiring business, ya know.

Sasuke rubbed the back of his neck as he pulled his cell phone out from his pocket, scanning through the missed calls he had. One of the female teachers from Konoha's All Girl High School had sent him a text message, asking if he wanted to meet her for dinner, to which he ignored, along with a few other messages (text and voicemail) that he deleted without reading/listening to. He was about to go ahead and close his cell phone when one final voicemail caught his attention:

"Hello Little Brother --"

Sasuke groaned.

"Please do not delete this without hearing me out. I am going to be coming to Konoha next month, and I would like to spend some time with you. We are brothers, after all, not to mention it is going to be my birthday. As a brother, you could at least spend some time with me, ne? And we haven't seen each other in quite some time, my dear little brother..."

He heaved a deep, heavy, disappointed sigh. His face only fell more at the last thing his 'dear' older brother added:

"Oh, and Kisame will be coming along as well. Ja, Sasuke-kun."

You have no new messages --

Delete.

Sasuke closed his cell phone and tossed it to the other couch. Everytime his brother visited, it only meant trouble (for him). He could only hope there won't be _much _trouble this time around, especially with Kisame tagging along.

He raked his fingers through his hair, heaved another long, tired sigh and threw his head back against the couch.

He glanced at the papers he had to grade. It made him wonder _why _he assigned so much work, but then again he remembered he taught Physiology and Math and both required there be a lot of work... Sigh.

The story of his life.

Sasuke snorted. _Some story._

He was about to close his eyes to sleep when the ringing of his phone brought him back to reality (quite sharply, too). He groaned as he shifted and pushed himself up, forcing himself to get up to retrieve his cell phone. He muttered to himself as he glared at his phone to see who was calling him. Whoever was calling caused Sasuke to quickly answer his phone without any hesitation.

"Hello?"

"Ne, Sasuke-san, I know today's your day off, but... one of the instructors got sick and --"

Sasuke needed no further explanation. "I'll be in soon."

"Arigatou, Sasuke-san!"

---

The moment Iruka stepped into his house, he was met by big blue eys and unruly, moppy blonde hair, red cheeks and loud chanting of, "Ramen! Ramen! RAMEN! RAMEN!"

Iruka nearly fell back, but he managed to compose himself in time, but he ended up falling back anyway when said source of excitement and bubbly joy pounced on him, still chanting, "Raaaaaaaaaameeen..."

To say the least, the poor man's vision was invaded by blue and blonde and "Ramenramenramenramen!"

"Oi, oi, Naruto-kun, calm down!" Iruka tried to pacify, but Naruto was already sniffing around and searching him.

He peeked beneath Iruka's jacket inquisitively. "Ramen?"

He lifted up Iruka's arms. "Ramen?"

He rolled Iruka over a bit. "Ramen...?"

He then looked at Iruka, brows creased, dark look on face. "...No ramen."

The teacher sighed as he gently removed Naruto off of him and stood up, adjusting his jacket and dusting himself off. Naruto sat Indian-style and pouted up at his caretaker with his arms crossed. "Well?" the boy demanded.

"Well..." A momentary sense of guilt gripped poor, poor Iruka, but then that instantly disappatated as he remembered something and he frowned disapprovingly, his tone instantly turning stern. "You will _not _be having any ramen for two weeks."

Naruto blanced. "..._Nani?!_ D-demo... doushite?!"

"Because." Iruka crossed his arms.

A forebodding look settled on his features.

Naruto felt suddenly very nervous -- but his precious ramen! He shall FIGHT for it --

"Because you graffitted school property, Uzumaki Naruto."

-- Aa.

Right.

"Heh heh..." Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously, but quickly turned defensive. "Eh! That wasn't me! How are you so sure that it was me?"

Iruka's brow twitched. "'Uzumaki Naruto was here.' Ring any bells?"

"..."

Naruto was on his feet, bouncing from one foot and to the other, flaying his arms around. "I was framed! Framed I say!"

"Oh Naruto..." The man sighed. "Lying isn't going to help you. Uchiha-san confirmed that it was you. He said you had been mopping the hall, so it could have only been you."

Naruto scowled. "Damn bastard..."

"What was that?"

"Oh... nothing..." He then looked up at Iruka with his big, watery blue eyes. "You can't be serious about taking away my ramen for _two weeks?_"

"Oh, but I'm very serious." His tone was serious indeed.

"Detention I can handle, but taking away my _ramen?_" Naruto clenched his hair and tugged at it, feeling his world crumbling all around him.

"...And which reminds me, we have extended your detention."

"Nooo..."

Naruto crumbled... and latched himself to one of Iruka's legs. "Don't do this to me! Don't you love me, Iruka-sensei? I thought you love me!"

"It is your own fault, Naruto!" Iruka said. He felt guilty as it was. He didn't need Naruto to pull the guilt-trip on him. "What's done is done. You have to deal with the consequences of your own action. And if I catch you near Ichiraku... it will be a _month _of no ramen!"

"Nooooooooooooo!"

Naruto clutched his heart, wheezed, and dropped limply to the ground.

Iruka stared at him before stepping over him and making his way into the kitchen.

"..."

Naruto cracked open an eye and frowned. A bit melodramatic, he knew, but he had hoped it would make Iruka take back what he said...

Unfortunately it didn't work. Damn it.

Oh well... It was worth it, Naruto thought, a very satisfying grin blooming across his face.

He was momentarily snapped out of his triumphant basking when he felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out from his jacket pocket and frowned when he saw who had sent him a text message. His frown turned into an all out bristle as he seethed when he read it:

dnt 4get: date. tmrrw. ill meet u at ichiraku at 3  
--kiba

Naruto's hasty response:

KFDJLAKGDLARIDALAA!!!

(Translation: It'snotadate!!!)

-

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to be continued

-

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Ok so yeah. Since this is _modern day Japan... _Itachi did not go sociopath and kill off every Uchiha in town.

And I think one of the reasons why I'm having such a difficult time writing this at some points is because a) I loose my hyperness and b) I dont' have a plot.

I thought it'd be easier to write this _without _a plot... buuut... well, I guess not, sooo... probably by the next chapter I will have an (actual) plot, and maybe then this will be so much more easier to write (and more exciting). SO... **if you have any ideas for a plot, please suggest them in a review, or message me via ff dot net or e-mail me. **All ideas will be of great help. I don't want anything too cliche, mind you.

I'm desperate. o.o

(Yes, if you didn't realize, this fic is plot-less Dx)

--_Gaara is love_


	6. This is not a date

I've been asked quite a few frequent questions, and... I suppose I should just answer them so _everyone _can see/read them. They're just a few questions that I've noticed quite common among reviewers, plus other things that I felt I needed to touch on.

**When will Naruto and Sasuke get together?  
**Aa, in due time, young grasshoppers, in due time. I'm a strong believer in developing relationships first, and this is what I'm attempting to do. It's harder with teacher-student relationships especially since there's this unspoken code that teachers and students aren't supposed to get into relationships, and the last thing on Sasuke's mind is developing any type of relationship with one of his students. But who's to say his students can't have a crush on him, eh eh? -winkwink-

**When will Neji come into the picture?  
**I haven't forgotten about him, so he will be coming in... soon... eventually.

**Smut?  
**You can bet your bottom dollar there will be smut. This wouldn't be Yaoi High without the _smut. _But, yes, this takes time as well. But don't worry... for the very first smut scene of Yaoi High... I already have it in mind. -giggles madly-

**Itachi?  
**Aa... the weasel. I refuse to use Itachi for any evil purposes of this fic... other than torturing Sasuke in... older-brotherly-ways.

**Rapeage?  
**Out of the question..

...Aaaaaaand I think that is it. If there are _any _questions you have, go ahead and ask, and I'll be sure to address them as the fic progresses. And please, do continue to make suggestions. I need them, haha, and I still don't have a _sure _plot, only just ideas.

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Random Quote  
_"Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then."  
_--Katherine Hepburn

**Welcome to Yaoi High**

**-**

**-**

Ever since the little graffiti-on-the-wall incident, Sasuke made sure _never _to leave Naruto alone -- even if it meant being bored and watching Naruto scrub the said wall that the blonde had so inconsiderately tarnished. But he'd be lying to himself if he didn't admit he was positively _amused _at watching Naruto grumble and scowl and curse and hiss and swear as he scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed...

And if he wasn't _Uchiha Sasuke, _he would have laughed (cackled) at Naruto's misfortune, who, Sasuke mused, only had himself to blame. The blonde _knew _Sasuke was enjoying himself _a bit too much _just from that _evil _glint in those dark, evil, evil eyes. The onyx-eyed young man let out a content sigh as he stretched his arms out and settled himself more comfortably against the wall. He was sitting on the corridor floor, leaned back against the opposite wall that Naruto was furiously trying to clean.

Luckily for the Uchiha, he had finished grading what needed grading, so he didn't need to worry about anything at the moment. It was only natural he enjoyed himself while relaxing over a cup of refreshing hot coffee (dealing with students all day drove Sasuke to become a coffee-holic. Really).

He brought his hands behind his head and weaved his fingers together.

"...Argh!" Naruto threw the rag down as he scowled fiercely at Sasuke. "This is going _nowhere!_"

Sasuke snorted.

It took the idiot, what, 30-45 minutes to realize that?

Naruto's scowl turned into a pout as he crossed his arms. "Why do I have to clean it up?"

"Because you're the one who did it," Sasuke pointed out dryly, and then as an afterthought, added: "Usuratonkachi."

"Oi! You're not allowed to call me that!"

The young man raised a challenging eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Because you're a teacher and I'm a student and you're not allowed to call a student that," was Naruto's intelligent retort.

Sasuke looked thoughtful.

...And then shrugged, uncaring.

"...Teme," Naruto muttered beneath his breath as he turned around to go back to scrubbing.

Sasuke's keen ears picked it up though. "What was that, usuratonkachi? Did you just call me a bastard? Now, you're not allowed to call me that because I'm a teacher and you're a student, and students aren't allowed to call a teacher that."

"..."

Naruto whipped around and stuck his tongue out (real mature, Naruto, _real _mature, his inner self chided). But Sasuke was sitting there with his hands cuffed behind his head, smirking as his onyx eyes danced with obvious mockery. What Naruto wouldn't give to throw the rag at his teacher's face...

But, the prospect of being able to leave soon was what restrained him from doing anything else that he would further regret (like talking back to Sasuke, punching Sai in the face... landing himself in detention with the Devil's Spawn -- no, not the Devil himself as he thought earlier. Naruto figured there were _far _more evil, evil people out there; worse than Sasuke, who was the Devil's Spawn. Or maybe the Devil's Seed... Hm...).

Naruto felt his "piece-of-crap-graffiti" (as Sasuke had called it) was... It made him a bit wistful to have to do away with his piece of art, especially since it was Saturday and no one from school would be able to see it. Though at the rate he was going, he doubted he'd have it all the way off by Monday... Yep. He was at school. On a Saturday. Alone with the bastard of an Uchiha. Naruto had more ways to spend his Saturday mornings -- such as sleeping, he moodily thought. 

He had been obliviously sleeping that morning when Iruka came into his room and ripped his blankets off of him, sweetly singing for Naruto to wake up -- _It's a beautiful day! -- _maybe a bit _too _sweetly. Though at the time he didn't think much of it for he had immediately curled up into the fetal position and whined, groping blindly for the blankets. A vein had twitched in his caretaker's temple. Iruka was grinning. Wide. Toothily. Forced. Sweet. Too sweet. Naruto cracked open an eye. He thought something was a bit wrong with his guardian, but he didn't think further and instead snatched his blanket back.

That's when Iruka had snapped and all sweetness was gone, instantly replaced by a very threatening edge: "**Uzumaki Naruto, if you don't get up _right this very moment,_ I will personally see to it that you _never _see the end of detention throughout the rest of your high school years, _and _you never taste ramen _ever again, _so help me God--!**"

That was all the encouragement Naruto needed to race around, take a shower, pull his clothes on and get ready in a record of _nine _minutes. He didn't know where they were going, but the moment they arrived at Konoha's All Boy's High School where a _much too happy _Uchiha Sasuke waited, Naruto tried high tailing it out of there. Iruka had grabbed the scruff of his shirt and dragged him out of the car with a warning look. Naruto gulped and sulked after Sasuke to his doom.

Iruka had called Sasuke the other day asking if he could supervise Naruto's punishment, since he was already serving detention with him, and because Iruka had other matters to attend to (such as apologizing to the headmaster for the recklessness of his charge, and other adult-like things that teenagers just don't bother to care about -- cleaning the house, for example, laundry, and whatever else it is teachers are stuck doing like grading papers. Though Naruto had this _theory_ thatteacher's didn't spend _all _their time grading papers... Maybe they all conspired together while playing golf...).

"How long do I have to be here for?" Naruto asked glumly as he rubbed his weary hands together.

"Hn," Sasuke glanced at his wristwatch. It was a quarter to twelve. They had arrived there at eight. Sasuke didn't mind the earliness since he was an early riser anyway (Five o'clock in the morning, to be exact. Crazy guy). "Fifteen more minutes."

Naruto's mood instantly shifted as he beamed pleasantly at the news. "Great!" Only fifteen minutes. He decided he could spend the rest of his time relaxing. It's not like he'd get much done anyway...

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to go back to scrubbing?"

"Nah!" Naruto shrugged and grinned. "I only have fifteen minutes left, plus my hands are tired." He held his hands out, palms face up so Sasuke had a good view of his colorful tainted fingers and palms. Apparently some of the color from the graffiti had rubbed off on him when he was cleaning.

"Hm." Sasuke shrugged and picked up a book he had placed at his side (Come on, four hours watching some kid scrub a wall... it got rather boring after a while. He did a _'teacherly' _thing, as Naruto commented, by bringing a book to entertain himself). He opened it and busied himself reading.

"...What'cha reading?" Naruto asked curiously. He tilted his head at an angle to try and get a better look at the cover. He squinted his eyes in a cat-like manner.

"A book," was Sasuke's tart response.

"Ob-vi-ous-ly," Naruto drawled out with an impatient huff. He blew at a particularly annoying strand of blonde hair that was threatening to poke his eye out. "What's it _called?_"

Sasuke decided to humor him. _"One Hundred Years of Solitude."_

Naruto blinked.

Sasuke sighed and went back to reading.

"...What's it about?"

"..."

"..."

Naruto pouted and crossed his arms. "You're a teacher, you're supposed to be nice and humor the student."

The dark-haired young man snapped his book closed and eyed Naruto warily. "It's about a family."

"...And?" the blonde prompted.

"...And that's it."

He made a face. "_Bor_-ing."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "When _is _the last time you've read a decent book?"

Naruto looked thoughtful. He tapped his chin and then brightened up when he thought of something. Sasuke was, seriously, bracing himself to be blown away because he wasn't even _aware _the blonde _read, _but that was quickly replaced by a blank look on Sasuke's part when he got Naruto's answer. The blonde tapped his fist against his hand. "The other day, I was reading the latest chapter of _Full Metal Alchemist!_"

"..."

"Ya know, the _manga..._"

Sasuke made a face. "I think that scarcely counts as a decent _book._ That's not even a book."

Naruto stuck his tongue out. "Well it's better than any book _I've _ever been forced to read!"

The Uchiha had high doubts the blonde ever cracked open a book his entire life.

For a while they sat there in silence, Sasuke not minding at all. He preferred it. Naruto didn't seem to notice since he was so thoughtfully lost in his thoughts. He linked his hands behind his head. "Ne, Uchiha-teme..." He didn't notice the slip he made. Sasuke smirked amusedly to himself. He didn't bother to point it out to the blonde.

"What?" he asked instead.

"..."

Naruto's stomach growled (loudly). Sasuke got his 'what'. The boy grinned sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. "I'm hungry. Iruka-sensei rushed me out of the house this morning, so I didn't have time to eat..."

Sasuke shook his head and pushed himself up, picking his book up as he did so. "Well, then I see no point in drawing this out any longer. You can go now."

"Aa, yes!" Naruto bounced up to his feet immediately. "Thanks, Uchiha-sensei!"

He hurriedly scuttled down the hall and to the front where he waited impatiently for Iruka to pick him up. Iruka had said he would be there at _exactly _twelve o'clock... He bounced impatiently on the palms of his feet as he pulled his cell phone out and glanced at the time. He had eight minutes to go. Naruto hummed and whistled and glanced sideways when Sasuke suddenly came out of the entrance and stood next to him with his hands stuffed casually in his pockets and his book tucked between his arm and side. Naruto quirked an eyebrow.

"Just thought I'd remind you," Sasuke started as he glanced at his wristwatch, "since you were asleep during the last half of math class that we have a math quiz on Monday."

Naruto blanched. "_Seriously?_"

His onyx eyes glinted in amusement. "Seriously." And he walked off with a casual wave thrown over his shoulder, and without so much as a glance back, hopped on to his black motorcycle. Naruto's jaw dropped at this. _Uchiha Sasuke _drove a _motorcycle? _

Whoa...

Oblivious to the blonde's open gawking, Sasuke tucked his book inside of his jacket, zipped it up and pulled on his helmet. It was a matter of seconds before he brought his motorcycle to life. It hummed and grumbled smoothly and he drove out of the parking lot. Once he was free, he hesitated no longer and zoomed down the street, disappearing not a moment later.

Naruto was still gaping when Iruka arrived.

"Naruto?" Iruka had walked over and raised an eyebrow when he saw the still gawking blonde. He waved a hand in front of his face. "Oi, Naruto!"

"Oro?" He blinked and snapped out of it, brightening when he saw it was Iruka. "Iruka-sensei!" He smiled widely and tugged on Iruka's sleeve childishly as he asked, "Ne, ne, did you know Uchiha-sensei drives a motorcycle?"

The older man looked amused. "Well, yeah..."

"I didn't know teachers could drive motorcycles! -- Well I mean, I know they _can _but I just... didn't know... _Uchiha-sensei _could drive a motorcycle." Naruto seemed to compose himself as he made a face. He always pictured Sasuke as the boring-type teacher; the type that does nothing but read, brood and grade papers. But then all of a sudden he pulled a complete 360 on Naruto and proved him wrong. The blonde ruffled his hair in bewilderment.

Iruka chuckled. "Sasuke-san is our youngest teacher here."

The youngster _supposed _that explained everything. Young people tend to try to be as 'out there' as possible. He shrugged it off before remembering something and looking up at his caretaker, "Oh, and I know I'm grounded and all, but is it okay if I meet up with a friend later? He's going to show me this dojo. I told him I took martial arts, and I've been meaning to find somewhere to take classes again..."

"Hmm..." Iruka seemed pleased to hear that. "I don't mind." At least then it would give Naruto something to do, other than mope around the house due to boredom or pass time playing mindless video games. "Although, just because you'll be out that does not mean you can purchase any ramen -- and believe me, I'll _know _if you had any -- and you have to be home before nine..."

Naruto ducked his head sulkily at the reminder of _no ramen. _"Hai, hai..."

- - -

Bright azure eyes stared forlornly up at _Ichiraku's. _

The smell of freshly cooked ramen wafted through the flaps, his mouth instantly watering as he could only _imagine _and _remember _how good the noodles would taste in his mouth... and the soup rushing down his throat...

_Goddamn_ that Kiba. Did he to make their meeting place at Ichiraku's? So what if he didn't know of Naruto's never-ending love for ramen and the fact that Iruka banned him from eating any for a while? Kiba should have asked Naruto where he wanted to meet first before jumping to the conclusion that the blonde could merely meet wherever Kiba so wished. Then again, Naruto hadn't really said anything other than that it wasn't a date... so... -- well that was beside the point.

...Speaking of the Inuzuka boy, where _was _he? Kiba was the one that arranged for them to meet at Ichiraku, so he should be there first, shouldn't he?

Bark bark!

Naruto blinked when he heard the unmistakable sounds of a dog barking. He started to turn around when he was suddenly knocked over by another gigantic weight. He was temporarily knocked into a dazed state because he barely registered the sound of someone shouting, "Akamaru!" It was only when he realized that he was being _licked _and _slobbered on _that he was snapped out of his stupor. But instead of being disgusted, Naruto merely laughed when he realized it was a big, fluffy white dog licking him senseless.

"Ooi! Stop that!" Naruto cried playfully, trying to protect his already drooled-on-face.

The dog identified as Akamaru yipped happily, his tongue lolling from his mouth as he panted with obvious excitement. He stopped licking Naruto -- which was a good thing -- but he wouldn't get off of the boy, that is, until someone came and gave the great dog a tug.

"Alright, Akamaru, get offa him before ya crush him."

Naruto blinked when the same pair of hands that pulled Akamaru off of him heaved him with ease onto his feet. He dusted himself off before glancing up, being met by the toothy (yet sheepish) grin of Kiba himself. He patted Naruto roughly on the back, almost jerking the smaller boy forward and making him stumble. Almost. He scowled before turning curious blue eyes to the panting dog, its tongue hanging from its mouth, its tail wagging excitedly to the point his whole rear end was moving side to side. Naruto crouched down and grinned as he patted Akamaru on the head.

The dog yipped appreciatively.

"That's Akamaru," Kiba said by means of introduction. He beamed, obviously pleased that Naruto was taking such interest in his dog. "I've had him ever since I can remember."

"Sou ka..." Naruto grinned as Akamaru licked the tanned boy's cheek. He laughed and straightened himself, stuffing his hands in his pant's pockets. He had changed after heading back home and settled into a pair of faded blue jeans, a plain white shirt with an orange swirl on the front, and orange converses.

The brunette teen raked his fingers through his roughish, unruly mop of hair that unceremoniously draped on and around his shoulders. The taller boy wasn't wearing anything that nice -- black sweats, a tight forest green top, and sneakers. He looked like he had been jogging, which Naruto wouldn't doubt since he was with his dog, and now that Naruto noticed, Kiba _did _look rather flushed and sweaty.

"Well, ya ready, blondie?" Kiba asked as he ruffled Naruto's hair. The blonde huffed indignantly and made something between a squawking noise and a snort.

"Don't call me that, dog-breath!"

"Oi! _You _don't call _me _that!"

Naruto grinned snidely as he coolly taunted Kiba, "Call you what? ...Dog-breath?"

Kiba narrowed his eyes. He was silent for a moment as he eyed Naruto before he suddenly straightened himself and flashed Naruto an identical smirk. "...Shorty."

The suddenly darkened blue eyes and the flash of murderous intent in those once bright azures was more than enough warning for Kiba to run. Luckily he had made it a daily thing to always jog. It kept him fit. It... made him a faster runner, too, especially against someone as small, quick and agile as Uzumaki Naruto. Akamaru (seeing this as something of an advanced-afternoon-run) bounded happily after them, even going as far as running ahead of them. The two (or three) ripped through Konoha and into the more busy parts of the small city. There were startled and protesting cries as people were (so rudely) knocked aside by the rampaging duo (or trio).

"Hey, watch it!"

"EEK!"

"MOVE IT YA LITTLE PUNKS!"

"DAMN BRATS! GET BACK HERE!"

"...Kids these days! So rude!"

"**Kiba come here so I can kick your ass**!"

Uzumaki Naruto **did not **appreciate being called short. He was _always _the shortest in all of his classes... for **every year. **This went beyond high school as well, and dated back to his early days in primary school. To say the blonde had developed a bitterness for the word 'short' was an understatement. Being constantly teased about it and having people always point out his height... er, _disadvantage_, never bode well with the blonde boy. It usually led him to react violently.

When the chase started, Kiba hadn't expected Naruto to last long in the chase. Kiba had thought Naruto would give up from lack of oxygen, or fatigue. What Kiba _hadn't _expected was Naruto's stamina. The dog-lover snorted as he made a sharp turn and darted frantically down the sidewalk. Obviously this little demon didn't know when to give up...

Naruto remembered the last idiot who had called him short. Said idiot hadn't realized that 'shorty' knew some martial arts moves, and, well, the idiot's ass kicking had him running away from the lithe and petite blonde whenever they were in a fifteen feet radius of each other. The memory brought a wicked grin on the tanned boy's face, a wicked grin that only widened as he thought of ways to painfully beat into Kiba that he was not. To. Call. Naruto. Short!

But said beating was going to have to wait because Kiba had come to a sudden stop, and Naruto collided right into him. He cried out as he fell back, but the bigger guy steadied him. Naruto scowled.

"Now that I've caught you... I'm going to kick your ass!"

Kiba grinned and scratched the back of his head. "Can that wait?"

"..." Naruto narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "...Why?"

Kiba pointed to the building in front of him.

Azure eyes followed his finger before widening in realization. His face lit up and he pressed his hands and nose against the window pane of the dojo, where inside, he can see a class taking place. The instructor was teaching a young group of kids and Naruto figured they were only around ten years old, maybe younger. They were following and mimicking the movements of their instructor, but one of the kids fell down when getting their ankles locked awkwardly. A series of giggles broke out among the group of kids, and the one who tripped blushed from embarrassment as he jumped back up. Naruto grinned to himself.

He tilted his head back to peer at the sign above the glass. Bold red Kanji characters were mounted on the wall. _Konoha Dojo. _What a creative title, Naruto mused. Kiba absentmindedly ruffled the top of Akamaru's head as the great white beast settled beside his master, panting and tail wagging from the aftermath of the previous adrenaline rush. Kiba was starting to wander in when he noticed the blonde wasn't following him, too engrossed in watching the class going on inside.

"Oi, blondie! Ya comin' or what?"

Naruto turned cat-like, squinted eyes to Kiba. It was when he realized the brunette was heading inside that Naruto hastily scurried after him. "I'm coming!" He paused at the door (Kiba holding it open for him) and glanced at Akamaru from over his shoulder. "What about Akamaru?"

"Aa, he'll be fine. And besides, no pets are allowed in." Kiba said dismissively.

Naruto waved to Akamaru and followed Kiba all the way into the dojo. It was cool inside due to the cold air traveling through the ventilation systems. Near the entrance door was the customer service desk where a young girl, no doubt the secretary, was reading a magazine. Naruto noted amusedly it was a magazine on martial arts. She looked to be around his and Kiba's age; brunette hair pulled up in two tight buns. Her feet were propped up on the desk with her ankles crossed.

Kiba walked over and leaned casually on the counter, his usual grin plastered on his features. "Oi, Tenten!"

Said girl looked up and blinked before snapping her magazine closed and beaming at the familiar face before her. She removed her feet from the counter and sat up straight. "Kiba! What brings you here? You don't have class today, do you?"

"Naw." He gestured at Naruto. "I was just showing the new kid this place."

Tenten looked curiously at Naruto before beaming at him as well. "So you're new, huh?"

"Yeah." Naruto grinned back at her and rubbed the back of his head, holding out his other hand to shake her expectant one. "The name's Uzumaki Naruto."

"Tenten," she replied with a toothy smile. "So you used to take martial arts where you come from, Naruto?"

"Yep! I was hoping to enroll for classes again..."

The girl clapped her hands together pleasantly. "Wonderful! I'll get you registered immediately!" She fumbled around for some papers before setting them in front of Naruto. "We'll just need some basic information first, so I'll need you to fill those out for me." She handed him a pen, and the blonde went to filling out the required papers instantly. "What belt did you go up to?" Tenten asked curiously.

"Black belt." He grinned at her.

"Sugoi!" She looked excited as she bounced in her seat. "You'll probably be in the same classes as me and Kiba then!"

"...I didn't know Kiba was a black belt." Naruto glanced shiftily at Kiba. He suddenly paused in the middle of the form.

Kiba flashed him a snide grin. "Did I not mention I take martial arts as well?"

"Yeah I think you forgot that important detail," Naruto grumbled dryly. He went back to scribbling in the required information. Once he was done, he handed Tenten the papers and she busily went on punching in the information into the computer's database. Once everything was confirmed, she turned her grin to the waiting blonde. "You'll start classes tomorrow, at 3 o'clock." She reached over for a piece of paper that printed out. She handed it to him. "Here is your schedule."

Blue eyes scanned through it before folding the paper up and stuffing it in his pocket. "Thanks, Tenten."

"Aa, no problem." She made a dismissive gesture with her hand. "So I guess I'll be seeing you both tomorrow."

"Yeah." Kiba draped an arm leisurely around Naruto's shoulders. Disapproving blue eyes narrowed at him, but Kiba ignored the look and flashed a dazzling, roguish grin in Tenten's direction. "We'll see ya around, Ten."

She smiled and waved as Kiba waved to her casually and steered Naruto out of the dojo. Akamaru waited at the entrance like a guard-dog: back straight, head up, eyes squinted closed, tail stiff. He only loosened up when he heard his Master and his Master's companion return. Akamaru relaxed and stalked up to the waiting Kiba.

"Ne, Naruto... You don't have to go home anytime soon, do you?"

"No... why?" he asked, shifting a bit away in a suspicious manner.

Kiba laughed and ruffled Naruto's hair. "Relax. I was just wondering if you've already been shown around Konoha."

"Hmmm..." The blonde pressed a finger to his chin and glanced up at the big blue sky thoughtfully. A small, ball of white fluff drifted leisurely through the sky.

"..."

Naruto beamed. "Nope! I haven't. Will you show me around, Kiba?"

"That's the idea."

- - -

So, well, the rest of Naruto's Saturday went by fine and dandy with Kiba showing him around town and bringing him to the 'best spots to be.' Naruto had to admit: he had a good time with the dog-lover (minus the crude and leering remarks said dog-lover usually sent at him every now and then which would result in a good punch in the face by Naruto's Iron Fist of Justice, HUZZAH!), or when Kiba would point out Naruto's height disadvantage ("I'm just VERTICALLY CHALLENGED!" Naruto would retort with his Almighty Roundhouse Kick of DOOM).

...Needless to say, Naruto had a great time hanging out with Kiba and, by the end of the day, felt rather bad for the bruises Naruto left him and had offered Kiba an apology and _would have _brought Kiba in to his house to give him some bandages... but the brunette just _had _to go and make a leering comment about Naruto moving too fast and, "Oh I didn't know you were _that _eager to get into my pants, Uzumaki..."

Naruto didn't feel so bad when Kiba went flying due to his Dragon Fist Uppercut of Punishment, HIII-YAH!

He sang out a 'goodnight' to Kiba as he went into his house where he saw Iruka sitting on the couch, legs tucked beneath him, a coffee in one hand and a paper in another -- along with a bunch of other papers scattered around him -- and the television on. Iruka beamed when seeing Naruto return.

"Tadaima!"

"Had a good time, Naruto?" Iruka asked, pleased to see the blonde's pleasant and cheery look on his face as he bounded into the living room and bounced on to a vacant couch.

"Hai!"

"What was that yelling I heard earlier?" Iruka tilted his head questioningly.

Naruto continued to beam.

"Oh, nothing. That was just Kiba."

"Aa..."

Iruka didn't question him any further. He figured he didn't _want _to know, so he went back to grading papers.

-

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**to be continued.**

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Ok -- BEFORE YOU KILL ME -- I know this is short. Terribly terribly ANNOYINGLY short... especially after making ya'll wait so long... but I NEEDED to get this out. Making ya'll wait was driving me crazy, and making me feel VERY guilty and bad. **And before you start throwing sharp objects: **I am going to **try **and update regularly. It honestly should not take me long to get something written up, so I am going to try VERY hard to update regularly, FOR YOU GUYS.

...Plus I am getting this out in celebration to Naruto fillers being over, and seeing Sasuke again in the anime (even though I already saw him in the manga), and me turning 18 yesterday (feb twenty). -dies-

_--Gaara is love _

**PS: If you have a livejournal: ADD ME. -giggles madly- there's a link in my profile. **

PPS: Have I mentioned that there's going to be a sequel to yaoi high?

PPPS: I love my beta-reader, Mai. I realize... how lost I have been without one.


	7. The So Called Savior

**chapter edited as of August 26, 2008  
**

I was asked by a reviewer if I'm from San Fran – yes, I am. Around the bay area. Hence why I used the BART system, hehe. So, Takibi-sama, thank you for the suggestion to model Konoha after San Francisco, because I believe I shall! I never thought to do that, but it's a great idea, so I'll go ahead with it!

And yeah, FMA (Ed in particular) inspired me for the whole shorty stuff with Naruto. Power to the short people!

And just so you guys know… I think I've had an epiphany, and may have a plot. Yosh!

_And _it was pointed out that Gaara seems more patient. Yes, he's more patient. I'm modeling Gaara after Kazekage Gaara. I love Kazekage Gaara. He seems more patient and calm and cool and collected, yknow?? –fawns over Gaara-

* * *

Random Quote  
_"You are utterly the stupidest, most self-centered, appallingest excuse for an anthropomorphic personification in this or any other plane!"  
_**Death berates Dream, in SANDMAN #8: "The Sound of Her Wings"**

**-**

**-**

Okay so, _why _was Naruto taking martial arts again?

Oh yeah: because he was good at it, and it was something that he actually _liked _(besides ramen).

But seriously though -- what the heck?

How come Uchiha Sasuke was his (and I'm sure you saw _this _coming) instructor/sensei?

Naruto was seriously starting to think this guy was stalking him, because wherever he went these days, he always ran into his Chocobo-butt-haired, sadistic-of-a-bastard -- yet admittedly (and grudgingly) good looking for a _guy --_ Physiology/Math teacher. But hold on one minute! Stop the presses! Did Naruto just admit his teacher was _good looking? _

...Okay, so maybe Konoha's All Boy's High School (aka YAOI HIGH) was influencing him more than necessary...

- - -

**chapter seven. **

- - -

"How old are you anyway, Uchiha-sensei?"

"..."

"Are you like, thirty? Forty? Fifty?"

Twitch.

"I figure you're old since a lotta teachers are kinda old... like Kakashi-sensei. He has gray hair. I bet he's like, sixty."

"...Baka."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at a bored looking Sasuke before turning back to the wall and scrubbing a bit hard on an orange splotch that just refused to go away. "Well you _could _answer my question. You're a teacher you know. Isn't it in your job description to answer questions and quench a student's thirst for knowledge?"

Sasuke snorted. "My age is of no concern to you, Uzumaki."

"Why are teachers always so uptight about their ages?"

"Because it's none of your business."

"...You're pretty mean for a teacher. Teachers are supposed to pretend to be nice."

Sasuke made a face as he pinched the bridge of his nose rather irritably. "And are you going to give _me _a lecture on what else you think teachers are supposed to do and not do?"

"Naw." Naruto made a playful, flippant gesture as he grinned. "Just that you're kinda different compared to the other teachers. You're younger, I guess. And... I don't know." He shrugged as he paused to wipe the back of his hand across his brow. "You act... _normal _around us students. I'm guessing it's 'cause you're still young -- that's why I was wondering how old you are."

"How old do you think I am?" Sasuke asked with a perfectly arched eyebrow.

He was leaning against the opposite wall, arms crossed over broad chest and with the upper buttons of his t-shirt left open so his creamy pale neck and collar bone and some chest was visible. Not that Naruto cared. The blonde figured Sasuke was just trying to be _cool. _He gave Sasuke a serious look as he placed his hands on his hips and leaned forward a bit, as if to get a better look at Sasuke.

"Hmm... twenty-five?"

"No."

"Twenty-four!"

"No."

"Twenty-one!"

"No."

"Twenty!"

"No."

"Twenty-three!"

"No."

"Twenty-two!"

"No."

"Twenty -- wait... even if I guess right, you're not going to tell me, are you?" Naruto grumbled and huffed.

Sasuke smirked. "Correct."

One of these days Naruto was going to steal Sasuke's wallet from him -- well _borrow _his wallet only for a moment. One moment, honestly! He just wants to catch a glimpse of Sasuke's ID Card so he can find out how _old _the man is. Naruto nodded resolutely to himself before throwing the rag down and pumped his fist into the air, declaring, "Yosh! Time's up!"

Sasuke glanced at his wrist watch and nodded. "Indeed."

"So I guess I'll be seeing you la-terrr, Uchiha-teme!" Naruto gave him a wave before dashing off. He didn't want to be late for his first martial arts class in Konoha.

Sasuke _may _be a strict teacher, and he _may _give students detention for the smallest of things... but he never minded what his students call him. Some even chose to call him_ Sasuke_-sensei. That's probably why he didn't mind so much that the Uzumaki-brat called him Uchiha-teme. The raven-haired teacher sighed to himself as he casually strolled down the hall, hands stuffed in his pockets. Personally, he thought he was too nice sometimes.

(Obviously Sasuke's definition of _nice _was much different from everyone else's...)

He had better things to do than to be _nice. _For one, he had a martial arts class to teach today. Oh yes. The evil, malicious, almost sadistic smirk on the Uchiha's lips was hard _not _to notice -- though no one was around to witness said evil, sadistic smirk. If Sasuke took enjoyment out of _one _thing, it was whipping his advanced students into shape by means of physical torture. Ah yes. It was quite known amongst his students that Sasuke's favorite past time was watching his students suffer while he barked (snapped) out orders.

He mentally planned out the strenuous torture he was going to put his students through later on that day as he clambered onto his motorcycle and pulled on his helmet. Sasuke was also aware of the fact that he was to be having a new student joining his class that day. He almost pitied the fool who -- obviously -- had no idea what he was getting into.

Almost.

Sasuke felt his motorcycle roar to life when he got the engine running. He kicked off the leg stand before taking off out of the staff parking lot and heading down the familiar road to his apartment. It wasn't long before he arrived home, a fresh pile of mail in his hands. He skimmed through them disinterestedly. It was always the same: bills, bills, junk mail, and more bills. Sasuke rolled his eyes and dumped them on to his coffee table, his keys following hardly a second after.

Sure Sasuke may treat his bills so _casually... _but he was a good citizen! Who always paid his bills on time! ...Okay maybe not always... Okay maybe not _ever._

It wasn't his fault he was always so busy. And exhausted. And disorganized.

Now as an Uchiha, one would think he was _freakishly _organized. But not this Uchiha.

This Uchiha was a _rebel._

...Or so he likes to think anyway.

Sasuke was about to walk into his room to get ready for his martial arts class when he noticed a letter sticking out amongst a pile of other letters that he hadn't noticed. He picked it up curiously, noting how official it looked before he opened it and pulled out the letter. He scanned through the formal message and snorted amusedly beneath his breath. It was a request letter; a request letter asking Sasuke to become _partners _with the owner of some major company.

It wasn't a surprise to Sasuke to be receiving such a letter. He had a major in the business field, _and _his brother (Itachi) was the CEO of Uchiha Trading Co., a company in charge of handling _most _of Japan's trade. Being related to _such _a powerful and wealthy man, who _wouldn't _want _Sasuke -- _Itachi's dear, dear little brother -- as their _partner?_

Sasuke skimmed through the request letter (he'd give it _that _much) before deciding it was no longer worth his time and interest and chucked the letter back with all the other junk mail. He was content with his job so far, so he wasn't interested.

Sasuke pulled off his tie just as he slipped into his room. He needed to prepare himself for his class that started in an hour or two.

**An hour and something minutes later... **

"Ah, Naruto-kun! You have decided to join us in our path to becoming young Masters of the Martial Arts?.!"

Naruto blinked as his vision was invaded by green and beaming, flashy teeth.

"Er... yeah?"

"Great!" Lee flashed him the victory pose.

Naruto returned the pose with just as much vigor.

Uncertain glances were exchanged among the other students.

"I did not know you were into martial arts, Naruto-kun!" Lee exclaimed pleasantly.

Naruto grinned and stood proudly. "I made it my goal to fight off Evil Doers and Other Evil Doers Who Pick On Vertically Challenged People!"

"That is a wonderful goal, Naruto-kun! I admire you!" Lee cried out, stars glimmering in his eyes. He clasped his hands together. "It is also my goal to fight for Justice, and to put myself through as much training as possible so I can further my youthful progress! And it is also my goal to beat my Eternal Rival!"

"Eternal Rival?" Naruto repeated with a thoughtful look. He scratched his nose and squinted his eyes contemplatively. "I do not have an Eternal Rival..."

"No worries! You will find one eventually!"

"Yosh!" Naruto pumped his fist into the air. "I will find myself a worthy opponent I can call my 'rival'!"

"That is the spirit!" The green-clad youngster cheered.

"...A Gai and a Lee are bad enough," Tenten muttered to Kiba as he adjusted and tightened his belt. The dog-lover nodded somberly as Tenten continued, "I do not know if I can handle _another..._" Oh yes. Even though Tenten went to Konoha's All Girl's High School, she was well aware of who _Gai _was. He taught for their teacher sometimes when he would be unable to attend a class.

Three other students arrived, and Naruto noted pleasantly that he knew two of them. Gaara was one of them -- who merely grunted when he saw Naruto there. The fact that he saw Naruto and Lee standing next to each other, beaming like there was no tomorrow, made him wary. Shino was the other that he recognized -- the third he didn't know at all. He was a tall, pale man, with pale, milky eyes that freaked Naruto out somewhat. _Never _had he saw anyone with such _eyes _before. He looked very regal and elegant, with shoulder-blade-length ebony black hair tied loosely.

Upon the stranger's appearance, Lee instantly straightened up and regarded the man vibrantly:

"Neji! My Eternal Rival!"

Tenten, who had practically grown up with Lee and Neji (they were brotherly figures in her life), snickered when she saw a barely suppressed shudder pass throughout Neji.

"Neji?" Naruto repeated as he looked at Kiba.

Kiba nodded. "Hyuuga Neji. He's a senior at our school. Smart. Top of his class. Smug. Rich-bastard." Kiba added, albeit grudgingly: "A fucking good fighter."

Naruto nodded in understanding. He could tell just by _looking _at the older guy that he really _was _a good fighter.

"My Eternal Rival, I must introduce to you my new friend: Uzumaki Naruto!" Lee chirped pleasantly. He patted Naruto good-naturedly on the back. Naruto beamed at Neji, who looked at him.

"Nice to meet you, Neji-san!" Naruto grinned.

Lee and Naruto were beaming at him.

...When had Lee taught Naruto the method of making his teeth flash so? Kiba mused. They were probably blinding the Hyuuga...

Neji grimaced and cast Naruto a wry look before looking away and grunting an acknowledging, "Uzumaki-san." He was _not _ready for a Lee-replica, especially since Lee was a Gai-replica...

"...Tch. How troublesome."

Naruto bounded over to the lazy-teen happily. "Shikamaru!"

Kiba snorted. "I'm surprised you actually got your lazy-ass over here, Shika. You haven't been to class in what, four days?"

Shikamaru shrugged.

"Hey, hey..." Naruto looked around. "Where's the teacher?"

"Maybe if we're lucky, he won't show up," Kiba grumbled. It was a Sunday. If anything, their sensei liked to _torture _them on Sundays. Why, Kiba could never figure out. It was a mystery among the students.

"Well he's late," Naruto scowled.

"Late? I hardly think so," a new voice spoke up. They all turned to the door as Uchiha Sasuke entered in all his Uchiha glory. "You all are just merely early."

The blonde titled his head in confusion. "Teme?"

Sasuke acknowledged him with a glance and a: "Usuratonkachi."

More confusion. "What are you doing here?"

The raven-haired man smirked, his arms crossing leisurely over his broad chest. "...I am here to teach you."

"..." Naruto blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. And then: "...Oh."

And then he glanced at the clock and noticed it was twenty-minutes past three. They were supposed to start at three.

"...Hey! You _are _late!"

Sasuke shrugged. It wasn't his fault he had hit traffic.

But the others knew better. Everyone (but Naruto) was aware he was once the student of Kakashi himself. The older, perverted, prone-to-be-late teacher...

**Meanwhile... **

Kakashi sneezed as he approached Iruka's front door.

_Ah, allergies... _

But no matter! Kakashi had learned something quite _interesting _that day: after much skilled stalking, he managed to find out where that cute Iruka lived! He knocked on the door and waited a few moments before he heard a "Coming!" called from somewhere inside. There was a pregnant pause, followed by the rustling of locks being unlocked until the door opened.

A surprised Iruka blinked at him. "...Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi beamed as he held up an empty cup. "Iruka! I was wondering if you could spare a man a cup of sugar...?"

**Anyway... on the other side of town: **

_"...eighty-one... eighty-two... eighty-five..." _

"How much more do we have to do?" Naruto panted, his arms starting to ache.

Sasuke paced through the rows of his students as they did their required push-ups. He paused when Naruto voiced his distress, and Sasuke lifted up a bare foot and rested it on the blonde's back before pushing down and forcing the boy to collapse on the mat. Naruto let out a muffled "Hey!" as Sasuke crouched down and smirked.

"...One hundred and twenty more to go, _dobe._"

Naruto bristled. _Dobe _now, eh?! That bastard.

He grit his teeth and pushed himself back up. Lee was on his left side, going up and down without so much as pausing or breaking a sweat. Gaara was to his right, pale jade eyes trained to the ground as the muscles in his arms tightened and flexed whenever he would have to push himself up, or lower himself down. Naruto squared his jaws resolutely and hurried to catch up with the others.

If Naruto learned _one _thing that day, it was that Sasuke was like... a military drill sergeant, but without the yelling. He was more... _calm _about giving orders, and yet the way he delivered them was also very unnerving. His voice always took on a cold, threatening chill that promised your demise if you so much as protested. The others were used to it, but Naruto had a hard time adjusting. His previous teacher -- some closet pervert by the name of Ebisu – wasn't as scary as Sasuke, but still intimidating enough to push his students through the grueling process of training and exercising.

Another thing Naruto realized was that he was out-of-shape, but he figured give or take a few days, maybe a week or so, and he'd be back on track, and able to keep up with Sasuke's demanding ways. He only hoped _every _day wouldn't consist of the same strenuous work out Sasuke put them through that Sunday. According to Kiba and the other students, Sundays were called 'Work-Out Sundays'. Go figure.

Naruto leaned against the outside wall of the dojo after finishing the five-mile run they had to do around Konoha._ I am definitely out of shape, _Naruto mentally grumbled as he wheezed, trying to catch his breath. He felt a rough pat on his back and saw a bottle of water being shoved into his vision. Naruto looked up to see Tenten smiling at him. He grinned gratefully and took the bottle, pouring the refreshing, cool liquid down his throat. He sighed appreciatively before handing Tenten back her water. Sasuke, Naruto and the others noted sourly, had joined them in their run, but had made the run look like a walk through the park. Heck, Neji and Gaara made it look like a walk through the park as well.

"Alright, class is over for today," Sasuke said as they walked into the dojo. He had a damp towel draped casually around his neck and shoulders.

Naruto glanced at the clock. It was almost seven. Had they really been exercising for that long? Everyone (mostly everyone) grumbled half-hearted cheers as they trudged into the locker area to change. Naruto figured he'd be extremely sore tomorrow, especially since he was already wincing whenever he had to strain his sore arms and legs. It felt like everything was going to fall off. And he still had to walk to the bus stop, oh joy.

"Naruto-kun! Would you like to join us for dinner?"

Naruto had been too busy mentally cursing the Devil Uchiha when he heard Lee's question. He blinked and looked over, strapping his duffle bag around his shoulder. Lee was waving at him expectantly with Tenten, Shikamaru, Neji, Shino and Kiba standing with him. Gaara had already disappeared. It took a while for Naruto to understand the question, but once the gears in his head started to shift, he put two and two together (Dinner. Dinner plus food equaled happiness)... all energy suddenly returned to him as he hurried to follow them out of the dojo. "Ha-ai!"

When Naruto was younger, he never really had many-- if any -- friends. He was always an outcast; the prankster; the _fool _without parents that no one wanted to talk to. He was alone. But that's what made him work and strive all the more harder to gain recognition, to get people to look his way and _notice _him; to _acknowledge _that he existed. And, well, one day, a girl with short, pink hair, large, emerald eyes, an even larger forehead and a short temper fuse noticed him and acknowledged him.

He was only nine at the time. Haruno Sakura hadn't approached him, asking him to be his friend. On the contrary, she approached him one day during recess when she noticed throughout the day that he had a bruise on his arm. It was the beginning of the school year, and it was the first time the two shared a class together. She went up to him, demanding why he had that bruise, to which he looked up at the pink-haired girl timidly and tried to hide it from her (when they were nine, Sakura was taller than him, and she was rather intimidating...). Naruto said it was nothing and Sakura snorted and rolled her eyes (very unlady-like) and grabbed his arm.

_"Baka,"_ she had called him._ "Doesn't look like 'nothin' to me."_

Naruto stuck his tongue out at her and told her to mind her own business. She smacked him upside the head. He smacked her back (upside the head, of course). Sakura tackled him. They had wrestled a good five minutes before a teacher came and pulled them apart. They glared at each other the rest of the day. But on the following day, when Sakura saw Naruto didn't have any lunch, she shared hers with him. They were inseparable ever since (up until now, anyway).

So it was strange for Naruto, when he thought about it, that his first day at Konoha, and people were already opening their arms to him. Sure, they were weird (like Shino, who likes _bugs_), but it was nice, Naruto figured. He was grinning widely as he walked to a Korean restaurant with the others. It was nice to have someone who was your personal punching bag (Kiba); someone you can act strangely with (Lee); someone you can mimic (Shikamaru); someone you can prod and poke and bother out of _sheer _curiosity as to _why _they're always so quiet (Gaara -- though he wasn't with them -- Shino, and Neji, now too); and someone you can have normal conversations with (Tenten).

Though Neji seemed like an uptight prick, and Lee's green leotard bothered and worried Naruto a tad, and Kiba was always putting the moves on him... it was all... _perfect. _

"Yo!"

They came to a stop when they arrived at the restaurant only to see Chouji waving to them, an apron tied around his large, round frame. Apparently he worked there.

"Chouji!" came the chorused greetings as they piled on to stools at the table.

Chouji took all of their orders down once they were settled before disappearing behind a flap to give their orders to the chef. Once Chouji returned, the group settled into casual chattering and conversation that consisted of Kiba and Naruto bickering over one thing or another, Shikamaru muttering something about how _troublesome _those two are, Tenten teaching Neji and Shino how to do origami with a folded piece of napkin, and somewhere between Naruto and Kiba bickering, and the chef and Chouji bringing them their orders, Naruto had flung a chopstick at Kiba's head, but the dog-lover ducked and the chopstick instead bounced off of Neji's temple.

"_Uzumaki..._" Neji grounded out, a vein twitching in his fist.

Naruto 'eep'ed (in a very 'manly' manner, as Naruto so defended himself later when the others made fun of him), and jumped on Kiba, clinging to him and making sure the protesting Inuzuka was between him and the Hyuuga. Neji looked _dangerous! _What if Naruto had poked his eye out with the chopstick?! The consequences would be disastrous...!

Fortunately for Naruto, all Neji did was break the chopstick (though Naruto couldn't help but get mental images of that chopstick being _him..._), and Naruto had gotten another pair. The blonde muttered into his bowl about pompous, uptight, girly-haired bastards who couldn't take an accident for what it was as he stuffed food into his mouth and gulped them down at an alarming rate. The others couldn't help but marvel at how fast Naruto's empty bowls piled up. It wasn't long before Lee joined in and the two were competing to see who could finish the most bowls of food.

Eventually, Neji and Tenten were the first ones to leave, and then Lee. He gave Naruto the thumbs-up, declaring the blonde will sooner or later find his long-awaited Eternal Rival, _so never fear! _And he took off. Naruto left with Shino and Kiba soon after, and they got on the same bus that took them across Konoha and to their bus stop. From there, Kiba and Shino went in one direction, and Naruto waved them bye as he headed off in another.

There was a park on the way to his house that he hated passing through because of the casual bum here and there that lingered around the vicinity. In a big city like Konoha, the homeless were a common sight. It wasn't very often when a homeless person _wouldn't _go up to Naruto asking if he had any spare change. But being the nice, caring, blonde-boy that he was, Naruto would always give money, even if he had hardly any for himself.

Sometimes if he had been taking ramen to go, he would even hand over some lucky soul his precious noodles, albeit very, _very _hesitantly. But he figured there was always someone hungrier than himself. Plus it made him feel good knowing he could help someone else.

When Naruto started to approach the park, he noticed with some mild curiosity and wariness that there were no homeless people in sight. One or two could usually be seen sitting on a bench or lounging by the playground, but the park looked empty from his vantage point. It was almost unnerving to not see anyone there, and it almost – _almost – _made him wish there _was _a bum there.

Intent on not lingering in the quiet and eerie park any longer, Naruto quickened his pace, and would have been long gone if his ears hadn't picked up the sound of grunting, among other noises that he couldn't quite make out. He froze. Now this was the part where any sane, normal person would carry on their merry way and mind their own business…

But Naruto was Naruto – curious, nosey, insane and _abnormal. _

So it was only natural he rigidly turned around and stiffly walked into the park and deeper into said park, heading to where dark, ominous trees loomed in the background. It wasn't like Naruto was _scared of the dark or anything… _Psh no way! Nor was he scared by the fact that he was hearing weird noises and he was alone in a big city and all by himself and those trees looked very evil… Nah. Naruto was fearless.

He was only quivering because he was cold. Really.

And he was most definitely not freaking out about the prospect of there being ghosts haunting this park.

Naruto gulped as he tip-toed quietly up to the playground set, silently creeping around the slides and monkey bars and ducking behind the biggest slide there. He took a deep breath before he so much as dared to look over, and when he did, he had to squint since some – if not most – of the street lamps were dim and others weren't working. But he eventually made out seven figures, six holding bats or twirling around a chain and the seventh one unarmed and circled by the six armed ones.

Naruto's eyes widened at this. All those guys were going to attack that lone, unarmed person? That was hardly fair!

And being the brave, heroic person that Naruto was, he charged in head on with a cry of "UWAAAAAAH!" and burst through the circle of men and jumped in front of the surrounded person.

"If you guys think you'll get away with hurting this unarmed, innocent person you have another thing coming! You'll have to get through me first!" Naruto puffed out his chest and pointed his thumb at himself. He scowled at the skeptical-looking men. "I am Uzu—"

"Uzumaki."

Naruto blinked. "Yeah! Uzumaki Naruto --!"

"_Uzumaki!" _

Naruto decided to look over his shoulder, since he realized the person he was in the process of saving had addressed him and knew his name. Naruto tilted his head before whipping around and pointing a finger at the 'distressed and innocent civilian.' "Aa – Gaara!"

A blank face and bland jade eyes greeted him, followed by a grunt. The red-head looked irritated, to say the least.

"What are you doing, Uzumaki?" Gaara asked, arms crossed.

"Well… I'm… saving you!"

"…"

"I mean c'mon, there's eight of them and one of you!"

"Six," Gaara corrected.

"…Six!" Naruto crossed his own arms, mimicking Gaara's posture. He lifted his nose up. "I'll help you take them down!"

Gaara was going to point out that he _didn't _need help because he was _Gaara _and _Gaara _needing help was just an absurd idea… but one of those hoodlums decided to interrupt their little chit-chat. One second Naruto was staring at Gaara and scowling at him, trying to get across his head that he would need Naruto's help, the next he was staring at where Gaara _once _was.

The blonde turned around, wide-eyed, to see the red-head crouched down, an elbow slammed into one of the guy's abdomen. Apparently he was going to attack Naruto from behind and had his bat raised, but Gaara put a halt in his plans in one fluid motion that no one had been prepared for. It was as if he vanished and reappeared.

In the next second Gaara ducked down and swept his leg in an arc, knocking the guy off his feet. He pushed himself up, at the same time twisting around and kicking out his other leg at another guy who charged at him. The heel of his shoe connected with the guy's jaw in a sickening crunch, and the force of the kick forced the attacker to fly backwards.

Naruto forgot he was there to save Gaara as he was too busy staring in awe at the speed and agility the red-head displayed. One after another all six guys dropped to the ground unconscious, and throughout it all, Gaara had hardly bat an eyelash, nor had his expression changed. His movements were lucid and deadly; swift and graceful; smooth and rough. He attacked with dead accuracy.

When Naruto finally snapped out of his awe-struck stage, Gaara was already bending over to pick up his duffel bag. He shouldered it and stuffed his other hand in his pocket before walking off. Naruto stood there for a few moments before taking off after Gaara.

"Hey, hey!"

He didn't stop walking, but no matter, Naruto caught up and walked beside the red-head, his face and azure eyes lit up with uncontained excitement and awe. "Man, you were awesome!"

Gaara glanced at him.

If he had eyebrows, it was apparent one would be raised.

He shrugged before looking away.

"Seriously! I didn't even _see _you when you had went at that first guy! It was like… one second you were there and then POOF, you vanished!" Naruto continued rambling away, flailing his arms and making wild gestures.

Gaara decided now was a good time as ever to tune the smaller boy out.

"And then -- and then when you did that one thing where you were like POW and BAM and I was all WOAH and –"

Naruto was in front of Gaara now, walking backwards, trying to get his attention, and still rambling on and on.

"…And when you came up on that other guy, DUDE! You should have seen the look on his face. It was _hilarious…_ And like -" Naruto blinked when he realized he was falling backwards. Apparently he had tripped over a rock. Not surprising since he was walking backwards.

It was Gaara's quick reflexes that saved him. A hand shot out and grabbed the collar of Naruto's shirt. The boy blinked more when he was suddenly pulled up straight and was forced to balance himself before he staggered into Gaara.

"Ah, arigatou," Naruto grinned sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Hn." Jade eyes stared down at him before Gaara tilted his head a bit, the shadows playing across his pale face. "You said you were going to save me."

"Huh?" Naruto looked up at him in confusion. He had to tilt his head back. It made him realize just how much taller Gaara was compared to him.

"When you jumped in. You said you were going to save me."

"…"

Naruto creased his brows. "Yeah…"

"Hm. Aren't saviors not supposed to stand around and watch, but 'save'?"

"…" Naruto realized Gaara was poking fun at him now, in his own little way, and Naruto's eyes widened before he huffed and scowled. "…I was going to! I just figured you didn't need my help!"

"Hm."

"Really!" He stuck his tongue out. "I could have totally took on _all _of them."

"Really."

"Yeah! And I could probably kick your ass!"

This is one of those moments where eyebrows would definitely come in handy for Gaara. But not everyone was so fortunate as to be graced with eyebrows (while others were maybe a bit _too _fortunate – take Lee and Gai as examples).

"You are a bad savior." Gaara concluded, his face and tone blank. Naruto stared at him. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or be insulted. Anyone who could say something like that with such a straight face made Naruto want to laugh, not to mention it made him wonder how Gaara could pull off saying stuff like that so bluntly.

Naruto chose the latter though and stared at Gaara in aghast. "Well see if I ever jump in to save your ungrateful ass again!"

"I did not need saving," Gaara pointed out.

"That's beside the point!"

"There is a point?"

"…Argh! Forget it! Bastard!" In a fit of outrage, Naruto turned around and started to storm off.

Gaara trailed after him calmly.

Naruto whipped around and glared. "Why are you following me?!"

The blonde figured he was seeing things when he saw a spark of amusement in those pale green eyes. "This is the way to my home. We are merely going in the same direction."

"…Oh." Naruto made a face at him before turning around and continuing onward, keeping a distance from the red-head.

Surely there was something wrong with this picture. It was normally Naruto bugging Gaara, now it seemed as if Gaara managed to grate on the smaller boy's nerves. It was amusing, needless to say, for Gaara. He found amusement in seeing Naruto get all flustered and angry. His reactions were… humorous and entertaining.

Not to mention Naruto could somehow stand his presence. Usually people became intimidated by his silence and his indifference. But Naruto seemed neither bothered nor phased by it, but rather made Naruto more persistent to 'bother' Gaara more. Amusing indeed.

The distance that was between them didn't last long, and neither did Naruto's silence, because it was a matter of seconds before the blonde was talking again, this time reminiscing over Sasuke's grueling exercise session.

Gaara glanced at the starless sky.

But he listened to Naruto anyway.

* * *

"Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo… Deny thy father and – _yawn _– refuse thy name…" Naruto drawled out.

Why was he reading the girl part again? Oh. Right…

"Speak with more feeling, Naru-chan!"

Genma. (1)

His English teacher.

Naruto groaned and resisted the impulse to bang his head on his desk.

"Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love… and I'll no longer be a Capulet." Naruto read with 'more feeling.'

Genma clapped his hands approvingly before whipping around and pointing at 'Romeo.' "Hit it, Romeo!"

Kiba winked flirtatiously at Naruto. He rolled his eyes as Kiba read, "Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?"

Naruto sighed before reading Juliet's part. According to Genma, he was the most girly-looking one in the class, and therefore perfect for the role of Juliet. Not to mention his English teacher was convinced Naruto was an 'uke if he ever laid his eyes on one.' Naruto's brow twitched as he remembered the first time he met Genma (it was on Naruto's second day of school, since Genma had been absent the first day Naruto went). It went something along the lines of Genma grasping Naruto's hand and exclaiming how 'utterly adorable Naru-chan' was and that 'if Naru-chan ever wants a fuck-buddy, he could always ask him (Genma)'. Naruto was mortified, to say the least.

It wasn't every day a teacher hit on a student. Well, at least where Naruto came from. He figured Genma hitting on his students was a normal occurrence because the other male students merely snickered. Some agreed about Naruto's 'ukeness' (much to Naruto's horror. It caused him to turn a ripe red though).

Personally Naruto wasn't used to all the 'hitting on,' especially from all the guys. He came from a very normal city and a very normal school… and then he moved on to Konoha, and all of a sudden guys were hitting on him. Even older men. It was weird. Girls never hit on him, and neither did guys from his old school – well except for the occasional homosexual guy…

When Naruto was done reading, he dropped his head into his book and sighed. Was he really doomed to be hit on by guys his whole life? Was this a sign from the Gods above? Were they trying to tell him something? Was Naruto doomed to embrace the dark side? The side of… of… of… _gayness? _

He groaned and rubbed his hair, but no matter how hard Inner Naruto fought to fend it off, he couldn't get out the mental image of Kiba beckoning to him and saying _Embrace the Dark Side! _

Never in his life had Naruto questioned his sexuality. Never in his life had he doubted he was straight. Never in his life had he ever had to _think _about it. This school was messing with his head. It was trying to make him _think _he was gay. Right! But then again, weren't people born gay? He frowned thoughtfully. So… Naruto could have been born gay and coming to this school was making him realize it –

No way! Naruto shook his head fiercely. He never doubted his sexuality before, so why start now? He was going to fight it. He was going to fight off Kiba's forwardness, the other guys hitting on him, the doubts… and he was going to triumph over everyone! Yeah!

He sat up straight with resolution.

"…Naru-chan!"

Naruto blinked at his English teacher, who had been trying to get his student's attention for the longest time.

"It's your turn to read, Naru-chan," Genma pointed out.

"Oh… right." Naruto glanced back at his text book and continued to read, "Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face… Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek…"

He sighed.

This was degrading.

* * *

(1) The only Naruto fanfics I've read with Genma in them were FastFoward's fanfics, and she inspired me… so… yeah. xD

Thanks everyone for the wonderful reviews so far. I am truly amazed at the reviews/reviewers that I have. You all rock my world. So keep the reviews coming, yeah?

And a heads up: I'll be changing my penname. : D


	8. everybody loves kungfu fighting

**chapter edited as of 5/23/07**

Random Quote  
"I'm an excellent housekeeper. Every time I get a divorce, I keep the house."  
**Zsa Zsa Gabor**

**--**

**chapter eight.**

**--**

There were several things about Uchihas that, as an Uchiha, Sasuke would like everyone to know.

_First off, _Uchihas have long since perfected the Glare of Death, Doom, Destruction, etc. So when Sasuke uses said Glare of Death, Doom, Destruction, etcetera, he expected _everyone _who had the misfortune of being bestowed with the Ultimate Uchiha Glare to _shut the hell up._

That was why whenever he walked into class, he always made sure to give his students _the look, _and they always fell silent. And they knew when he was in a bad or irritated mood, because his glare would be so horrible and _smoldering, _that no one would dare to even _breathe _(or, well, _Naruto _almost suffocated once from the intensity of the atmosphere that he basically turned blue and didn't start breathing again until Kiba patted him roughly on the back).

Secondly, Uchihas were always calm and collected, no matter what situation may present itself. They always kept a cool-level head, and never so much as charged into things so recklessly and without thinking things through. They were realistic, logical, intelligent, aloof, talented, sensible, pragmatic -- and _definitely not _uptight and arrogant.

Third, Uchihas were proud. And because they were proud, that did not necessarily mean they are arrogant and self-centered. Uchihas were, by nature, confident, sure-of-themselves, and prideful. They were dignified, and always made sure to never bring dishonor to the Uchiha name.

The Uchihas were powerful. Physically and mentally. Everyone knew that the Uchihas were a very prestigious family; strong, rich, influential, powerful... It was rare for anyone to find someone who _didn't _know the Uchiha name (a.k.a. Naruto, though no one was surprised _he _didn't know just _how _powerful a name _Uchiha _was, or else he wouldn't be calling Sasuke an uptight, arrogant, 'assholic' bastard).

And lastly, Sasuke would like to point out that Uchihas were _lazy. _No matter how influential, hardcore, wealthy, intelligent, prideful and confident the Uchihas were, they were _lazy. _Take Sasuke for example. Uchihas were supposedly organized, but apparently the apple skewed from the tree because he simply refused to tidy up his apartment, or his desk that was buried with scattered papers, books, and who-knows-what. But Uchihas were lazy in that they preferred doing things the _easy _way -- such as Sasuke's older brother, Uchiha Itachi, who was a pro at doing things the easiest and most proficient way possible.

(Although Sasuke admittedly has yet to master the 'easy and proficient way' of doing things Uchihas are so famous for. He was practicing, but said practice was proving futile thus far. Whenever he tried to do things the easy way, he always -- _somehow -- _managed to make things _even harder. _He'd be doing the simplest of things like, say, grading papers, and that would lead him to having a Great Mental Debate over several questions and/or problems, and said Great Mental Debate would put a two-three week delay in him getting tests, work assignments, and homework back out to his students, graded and all.)

All of these things were just the tip of the iceberg. There were more things about the complicated Uchihas -- a book would have to be written about it -- but no matter. The point _was... _There was a point to all of this rambling? But of course. Sasuke _always _had a point, just that he always made things _so goddamn complicated what-with all his (mental) ramblings. _

The point **was**, Sasuke was lazy. His desk was messy. He couldn't find the tests from last week that he was supposed to grade. They were _somewhere _on his desk... (what laziness had to do with the Ultimate Uchiha Glare, Power, Pride and Patience, only Lord knows).

_So, _when Naruto came in for detention later that day, Sasuke came up with a _brilliant _idea. He was a genius, after all, and he needed to give the boy _some_thing to do since he was already done scrubbing off the graffiti he had drawn on school property a while ago.

"Oi, dobe," came the not-so-formal address when Naruto stepped into Sasuke's class for the second/third time that day. Said boy scowled at the name. Sasuke sometimes had a mental debate whether to call him 'usuratonkachi' or 'dobe', but he usually settled on dobe, since it was shorter. The man leaned back in his oh-so-comfortable-looking-leather-wheeling-chair and gestured smoothly at the horrendous state of his desk. "Organize my stuff."

Naruto gawked. "_Nani?_"

With an elbow to the arm of his chair, and a hand cupping a pale cheek in the perfect devil-may-care posture, Sasuke stared at the blonde boy through half-lidded, lazy onyx eyes. He drawled out, "Do you have hearing impairment?"

"Er, no...?"

"Then," Sasuke stood up, pushing his chair back, "get tidying."

"But-but... That's _your _stuff."

A raise of a perfectly arched eyebrow. "And?"

"And... And... _You _clean it up!"

"Would you rather scrape gum from beneath the desks?"

"...No."

"That's what I thought."

Naruto grudgingly approached Sasuke's desk and started shuffling through the papers, trying to organize stuff and what-not. That was proving difficult though since everything was out of order, and nothing was where it should be, and he had homework dated from the beginning of the year and even stuff from _last _year ("So _that's _where I had put their homework," Sasuke had mused. Apparently there was an assignment he had 'lost' and never returned to one of his classes last year).

While Sasuke occupied one of the student desks and busied himself with a new book, Naruto sat down on Sasuke's oh-so-comfortable-looking-leather-wheeling-chair-that-was-indeed-as-comfortable-as-it-looked, and sorted through his mountain-high stack of papers and piled things up based on what assignment things were, dates, and what-not. Who would have thought the blonde dobe could be so good at organizing? Naruto couldn't help but every now and then snuggle back into Sasuke's _very _comfortable chair. It was really, _really _comfortable... So it was only natural that, at one point, he kicked off his shoes and sat, legs bunched up beneath him, on Sasuke's chair.

The first five minutes had Naruto huffing and fussing over the state of Sasuke's desk, and how messy it was, and how Uchiha-teme should be more organized in the first place. The next five minutes was spent in silence with Sasuke engrossed in his book, and Naruto getting into the sorting-out. Or, well, Sasuke _thought _Naruto was getting into it, therefore leaving the raven-haired teacher to think the rest of the time would be spent in silence but... give or take a minute after ten minutes... the babbling ensued.

"You know what I don't understand? Why Kakashi-sensei is always late."

"Hn."

"You know he _lied _to me and told me there were cows in Konoha!"

"Hn."

"And you know what else? That Genma-sensei is creepy too. Is it natural for him to hit on his students? Because it's freaky. And wrong. And I don't like him."

"Hn."

"And then during PE, when we have to shower, that Sai kid is always smirking at me and trying to look at my manly parts... I punched him once, didja know? That's kinda why I'm stuck here with you... longer than necessary..."

"Hn."

"Ano sa, ano sa, Uchiha-teme, do you get bored when you eat?"

"..." At this, Sasuke stared at Naruto blankly.

"I was thinking today, during lunch. Like someone said their day was boring, I forgot who said it, but that's beside the point. And then I thought -- while eating -- that I'm not bored. So I started wondering: am I ever bored when I eat? And then I realized: no, I'm not. So... are you ever bored when you eat?"

Sasuke looked at his student weirdly. The blonde was looking at him curiously, obviously serious about his question, so of course Sasuke humored him. "...No."

"Oh and you know what? One time I was walking home and then I saw these guys were about to kick Gaara's ass and I came in to save him... and then Gaara beat them all up. And I stood back, y'know, just in case he needed my help... but they were all a bunch of pansies, so Gaara took them down. I could have _so _kicked their asses on my own--"

He paused as he neatly stacked together some homework from last week that Sasuke hadn't graded yet.

"--And did you know that Genma-sensei and Raidou-sensei have a _thing _going on?"

_Who _didn't _know? _Sasuke mused.

Apparently... Naruto. Who was always the last to find out about things.

"Or well that's what Kiba told me, 'cause we were going to go see Genma-sensei about what the english homework was, but then... they were doing something..." Naruto squinted his eyes and scratched his nose. "I don't really know what though. Kiba kinda pulled me away really fast before I could see... He said they were having a very important meeting."

Sasuke snorted. An 'important meeting' alright.

Naruto twisted his face in a thoughtful expression. "And Kiba was saying something about... ano...Uchiha-teme, what's... 'giving head'?"

At this, Naruto looked at his teacher with innocent, naive, curious, bright, baby blue eyes.

If Sasuke was drinking something, he would have spat it out then and there -- dignity and all thrown to the wind. But as it was, he _didn't _have anything to drink, so he promptly choked on his own saliva. Sasuke could tolerate obnoxious, idiotic students asking him questions like that just to rile him up -- which never worked -- but when said idiotic student was truly, genuinely and utterly _naive... _Sasuke _didn't _know how to handle that. Now how the hell was he supposed to answer his poor, smothered, innocent, non-corrupted student? If Kakashi or Genma were there, they would surely answer his question without hesitation. And as it was, Sasuke _wasn't _Kakashi or Genma, and Iruka would have his head if he so much as corrupted his little blonde charge.

And _personally, _Sasuke would rather not get in the way of a furious Iruka while in Mother Hen mode.

But Sasuke was saved from having to answer such an embarrassing question because Naruto forgot about it when he saw his teacher choking. "Are you okay, sensei?"

Sasuke cleared his throat and coughed a bit. "I'm fine."

Naruto looked at him strangely before shaking his head and giving his attention back to the sorting he had to do. Looking at the desk, one would think there wouldn't be _that _much papers but... once you dived in, you realized that it just never seemed to end. It was like trying to dig through sand to find the bottom, and never being quite successful. After a while of fishing through Sasuke's papers and stacking things, Naruto came upon a curious piece of folded paper. It was red, folded somewhat nicely, and with a pink heart sticker on the front. In elegant handwriting, _Sasuke _was scribbled. A sly grin curled at the whiskered boy's lips. A love letter for the bastard, eh? Curious, curious... He didn't know that Uchiha-teme had a girlfriend!

Making sure said Uchiha was well engrossed with his book to notice Naruto, he unfolded the paper and creased it down and started reading. In the same elegant handwriting, _Uchiha-sensei _was written at the top -- with black ink.

_Uchiha-sensei,_

_I hope you do not mind if I call you Sasuke-sensei. Simply calling you 'Uchiha' does a man like you no justice. Sasuke-sensei, you are a beautiful man. The moment I saw you, I knew it was love at first sight, and that I was meant to be with you. What I am trying to say, Sasuke-sensei, is that --_

Naruto was trying to fight back the tears and laughter of mirth that were threatening to escape his iron hold. Oh good _Lord... _this was just too much.

_-- I love you. I love everything about you. Your hair. Your eyes. That scowl... Oh that scowl. It gives me shivers. And your eyes. When you turn those eyes to me, it gives me goosebumps. Those deep, dark onyx pools of black sapphires... I get lost in them whenever I look at you. You may not know this, but everything about you -- the way you carry yourself -- tempts me to throw caution to the wind and forget the fact that I am merely your student and you are my sensei. I could care less about the blasted rules. I want to be yours._

Naruto was practically shaking now as he struggled to keep himself from bursting out laughing.

_But I know you are probably worried about the rules. You are an honorable man, Sasuke-sensei, and I will wait forever until I am of age to be with you. If you shall wait, then I shall be patient, and I shall wait with you. Until the day I am yours..._

_Always and Forever Yours,  
MonMon. _

Naruto guffawed.

Sasuke looked up and arched an elegant eyebrow at the laughing boy.

It took a while for Naruto to get out why he was laughing, because he really couldn't stop, but he waved the 'love letter' at his teacher and Sasuke merely gave him a bored and slightly irritated look. Didn't the idiot know when to _not _stoop in other people's private stuff? Oh well.

"Ne, ne, Uchiha-teme, who's _MonMon_?" Naruto asked once he finally calmed his laughter down, though he couldn't help but snigger. He wiped away the tears from his eyes.

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know."

Naruto blinked. "How can you not know? He _is _one of your students."

The man looked nonchalant. "He very well _couldn't _be one of my students, especially if I do not know who he is. And what is that you have anyway?"

Naruto looked amused. "You mean to tell me, you didn't even notice the love letter that was clearly addressed to you?" He shook his head at Sasuke's indifferent and bland expression before sighing and tossing the letter into the trash. Naruto knew Sasuke always received love letters from his fans (fanboys _and _fangirls), and always threw them away. The letter from this _MonMon _must have been slipped into Sasuke's mountain-high pile of papers in hopes of being singled out by the teacher to be read. "Oh well. The letter sucked anyway." He clapped his hands together and batted his eyelashes, putting on his best girly voice as he all but puckered his lips. "Ooh Uchiha-sensei, your eyes are like deep, dark, onyx pools of black sapphire that I get lost in whenever I look into them... "

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I will have to ask you to refrain yourself from ever doing that again, Uzumaki."

Naruto snickered. "Hai, hai."

A few shuffles and neatly-stacked-papers later, Naruto beamed as he clapped his hands together and declared: "Yosh! Done!"

"Hn. Do homework now or something," Sasuke said dismissively, not bothering to tear his gaze away from his book.

"But I don't have any."

"Sure you do."

"How would you know?"

Sasuke looked at him with one of those _I'm-your-teacher-so-of-course-I-know _looks.

"I'm your teacher, so of course I know."

"I already did my homework for your classes..."

"I find that hard to believe, considering the last time you turned in homework for _any _of my classes was... never."

"Heh heh..." Naruto smiled sheepishly. "I forgot?"

Sasuke closed his book and set it down, curling his fingers together as he propped his elbows on the desk he was sitting on. "I become more and more tempted each day to talk to Umino-san and inform him of your... lack of work."

Pure horror was written across the boy's face as he all but shook his head wildly. "Please, _please! _Anything but that! I'll start doing my work! Just don't talk to Iruka-sensei!" Naruto, honestly, loved his caretaker to death, but there was only so much nagging and 'Mother Hen-ing' that a poor boy could take in his sixteen years of existence. But to prove his point, Naruto picked up his backpack that he had dropped to the floor and zipped it open, shuffling through his papers that he had unceremoniously stuffed into his bag (without bothering to put them into an orange binder that he left in his backpack... unused and forgotten). Naruto pulled out the worksheet that he was supposed to be working on in math, took out a pencil, and placed his bag back on the floor. He then proceeded to gnaw on his bottom lip and/or the eraser of his pencil, scribble some things down, and scowl at his homework with a furrowed brow, all the while erasing furiously at the paper.

That went on for a good seven minutes before Naruto realized that he _never _paid attention to Sasuke's lectures, because he was always too busy sleeping, or pretending to be paying attention. He had mastered the art of napping while appearing to be engrossed in a teacher's lecture. Naruto glanced up at Sasuke to see he was reading again. He licked his lips. He didn't _want _to ask for help, but just staring at the problems was giving him a horrible headache. Was it his fault he just so happened to _royally _suck at mathematics?

"Ano, Uchiha-sensei..."

Sasuke looked up.

The dobe called him _Uchiha-sensei. _He was trying to be nice. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, already figuring Naruto wanted something by the way he was fidgeting and gnawing on his bottom lip. The blonde grinned sheepishly through squinted eyes as he rubbed the back of his head. "Aa, can you help me? I don't... eh..."

"Understand?" Sasuke offered calmly.

Naruto looked down, but nodded. The man closed his book and stood up, already going in teacher-mode as he walked over to his desk, leaning on it with a hand to the ledge, and his other hand resting leisurely on his hips. Sasuke peered over Naruto, who glanced up at him before focusing all of his attention on his worksheet. Before Sasuke started to help Naruto, he looked down at the boy. "I will help you, so long as you do one thing."

He looked up at Sasuke confused. "Nani?"

"Stop falling asleep during class and actually put in effort to understand what's going on."

Naruto pouted. "I don't sleep!"

Sasuke raised a challenging eyebrow.

The boy sulked. "I don't sleep... _much. _But fine, fine... I'll _try _--"

"You will not try. You will simply do," Sasuke interrupted matter-of-factly.

Naruto's expression drooped more as he all but muttered, "Ok. I _won't _sleep and I _will _put in effort to understand what's going on..."

"Good. Now..." Sasuke turned his attention back to the worksheet and helped Naruto through it, urging him every now and then to try several problems on his own. Sasuke had pulled up a chair and situated himself next to the boy while he worked to help him. There were several times the teacher would have to smack his student upside his head to stop him from nodding off, and other times where he would have to pull Naruto's earphones from his ear so the blonde could hear him over the loud music he was playing with his IPod. The boy stuck his tongue out at Sasuke (_Real _mature, Sasuke had drawled out) when the raven-haired man gave another smack upside the head for saying his hair looked like...a porcupine, and the rear end of a Chocobo (though Sasuke could hardly be offended about that one since he didn't know _what _in all the world a Chocobo was).

Through the bickering that ensued from there -- with Naruto calling Sasuke a bastard, and Sasuke calling Naruto a brat, and Naruto calling Sasuke an idiot and Sasuke calling Naruto a _dobe, _etcetera etcetera -- they failed to notice someone arrive. Umino Iruka stood at the frame of the door, an eyebrow quirked and an amused smile curled at his lips. Surely it was an odd sight to see Sasuke and Naruto acting so familiar with each other, especially when one was a student, and the other was a teacher? But then, Iruka figured, it didn't really matter, not when it concerned Naruto. The blonde had the ability to make anyone feel familiar and comfortable around him. Not to mention, Sasuke was young for a teacher, so he could _pro_bably associate more with his students than the older staff members could.

It wasn't until Naruto looked ready to jump on a rather smug looking Sasuke and strangle him that Iruka decided to step in. He cleared his throat and the bickering student and teacher turned mildly surprised looks to the doorway. Iruka smiled and waved. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

"Aa, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto brightened up visibly when seeing his Guardian enter. He glanced at the clock. He had almost forgotten his detention was over! It was all stupid Uchiha-teme's fault. Distracting him and what-not. The _nerve _of the teacher for insulting the Almighty Uzumaki Naruto!

Sasuke nodded in greeting to Iruka. "Umino-san."

The older man smiled. "'Iruka' is fine, Sasuke-san."

"...Iruka-san," he corrected himself.

His smile widened at the young man before turning to his blonde-charge who was beaming at him, having already stuffed his things into his book bag. "Ne, Naruto-kun, are you hungry? Do you want to grab a bite to eat before your martial arts class?"

"Yeah!" Naruto threw his fist into the air. The mention of food all-but sparked even _more _energy and life into the already energetic boy. The mention of food also reminded him that he hasn't been able to eat ramen in a while. And so, mustering up the most innocent puppy-dog eyes he could muster, Naruto tugged on Iruka's sleeve (_when _he had gotten close to Iruka, the older two men had _no _idea). But Naruto was suddenly there, looking up at his caretaker with large blue eyes. "Ano, Iruka-sensei..." He shuffled his feet. "I know I'm not allowed ramen but... aah..."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and snorted.

Now who in their right mind would fall for _that _false act of innocence?

"But I've been good, and... I was wondering if... if well, we could get ramen?"

Iruka worried his bottom lip. He felt he was justified for depriving the boy of his favorite meal, but when said boy looked up at him _like that... _how could he resist those eyes? It was the _eyes! _Iruka let out a suffering sigh and glanced at the ceiling, as if asking whatever almighty beings there were to give him patience. "...Alright, Naruto-kun. We can get ramen."

Sasuke shook his head.

Apparently _Iruka _fell for Naruto's false acts of innocence.

Naruto whooped. "Yosh!" He was already about to dash out of the classroom when Iruka stopped and looked at Sasuke with a smile.

"Sasuke-san? Would you like to join us?"

The blonde deflated and rounded on Iruka. "What--?"

"That's quite alright," Sasuke spoke up politely.

"No, I insist!" Iruka persisted. "At least grab something to eat before you have to head off to your class." Yes, Iruka knew Sasuke was not only Naruto's Math/Physio teacher, but his martial arts instructor as well. "It would be nice if Naruto-kun and I had some company. Plus, it's my treat!"

"Iruka-sensei--!" Naruto gawked.

"Hm..." Sasuke looked thoughtful for some moments. When was the last time he had merely gone out to socialize with people? Lord only knew. He figured eating out with others would do him some good, especially since he couldn't really remember when he last did (minus the times when his older brother would visit, and Sasuke would be forced to entertain him). "Alright."

"Wonderful!" the scarred man clasped his hands together and gave a dazzling smile.

Naruto sulked and Sasuke flashed him a smirk that caused the blonde to stick his tongue out. Iruka, soon, couldn't help but observe that the usual stoic, calm, passive, lazy, and bored-looking Uchiha had a very competitive nature about him; a competitive nature that rivaled Naruto's -- which was probably why Iruka found himself watching, later on after they arrived at Ichiraku's and the older male had engaged Sasuke in some casual conversation, which consisted of the usual interruptions from Naruto, which _somehow _turned into bickering between the student and the raven-haired man, which led to them sending glares at each other as they stuffed their faces with ramen, _which _then led to them eating bowl after bowl of noodles as they tried to out-eat the other -- the eating contest Iruka found himself watching from the sidelines.

In the time Iruka's interacted with Sasuke, it was hard to believe the young man could act so... well, _young. _He always acted twice his age, and childish antics seemed too immature for Sasuke. But there he was. Acting childish. And yet not that childish. It was a way that only Sasuke could pull off. Naruto, on the other hand, was childish by nature. Immature. Loud. Playful. And he had the ability to make anyone get along with him in their own special way. Iruka figured that's what he was doing with Sasuke. Iruka snapped out of his musings when he noticed that Sasuke and Naruto had already five bowls each, and if he didn't intervene soon, who _knows _how much he would have to pay for all of this food...

"So, Sasuke-san? How long have you been teaching martial arts?"

Intervention: Success.

Sasuke instantly switched from competitive to calm and collected in a blink of an eye. He clasped his hands together. "It's my second year."

"And how long have you been taking martial arts?"

"Since I was six."

A look of admiration lit Iruka's eyes. "I see. You must be quite skilled then."

"I suppose. If being skilled means having years of experience, then, yes."

Naruto rolled his eyes and muttered, "Cocky bastard."

Sasuke smirked -- while Iruka smacked Naruto upside the head disapprovingly. "I heard that, dobe ("Itai! Iruka-sensei! Why did you -- _hey! _don't call me that!")"

The blonde rubbed his head with a pout before puffing out his chest and grinning his usual toothy grin. "I bet I can take ya on!"

If he was any other person, Sasuke would have laughed outright. Naruto? Scrawny little Naruto? Take _he -- _Sasuke -- on? Probably the most funny thing he's heard in a while! But funny or not, Sasuke's expression remained undaunted. He stared at Naruto with the same blank, bored and indifferent expression he so gracefully bestowed everyone with. "Is that so?"

Naruto, unfazed by his teacher's seemingly mocking demeanor, continued beaming. "Yeah!"

"I'd like to see you try, Uzumaki."

Doth his ears deceive him?

Was this a... a... _challenge?!_

It was a challenge if Naruto ever heard one!

Smirking darkly, the blue-eyed boy crossed his arms, smirk widening into an all out grin. "Don't worry, Uchiha-_sensei. _I doubt I'll have to _try._"

Sasuke snorted. He was starting to realize the boy was bringing him down to his level of childish bantering, and as a grown adult, he needed to break out of that, and to stop snooping to the brat's level. He tilted his head and stared coolly at Naruto. But other than that, Sasuke didn't give the boy a response, already knowing the silence would irk him more than a retort. The young man stood up and slipped some bills on to the counter. "It was a pleasure having dinner with you, Iruka-san, but I should be on my way. I have a class to prepare for." He glanced at Naruto. "I'll be seeing you again soon, Uzumaki."

"Maa, maa, Sasuke-san. I told you it was my treat," Iruka intervened as reached over to slide Sasuke's money back to him, but the raven-haired man was already walking away, one hand stuffed in his pocket while his other threw a casual wave over his shoulder.

Naruto waved him off happily. "Ja ne, Uchiha-temeeeee. "

Iruka waved his fellow colleague off before it registered what Naruto had called him. Sasuke smirked to himself as he walked, already hearing the scarred-man reprimanding his young charge: "Uzumaki Naruto! What did you just call him?"

"Eheheh... I said... Uchiha-sensei...?"

* * *

Self-defense. That was the 'theme of the day.' Sasuke had given them 'specific instructions' to pair up with someone, one partner on defense, other offense, and to have switch-offs to work on their self-defense skills. Sasuke was observing Neji and Tenten as the girl deflected some of her partner's punches and kicks. Lee was shouting obscenities about running one-hundred and fifty laps around all of Konoha if he did not break through Shikamaru's defenses, and Gaara and Shino were going at it in their own... special way that consisted of well-thought out tactics that Naruto, personally, felt they took too much time mulling over as they circled each other...

Naruto was paired up with Kiba, much to the blonde's dismay. But even though he was paired up with the bold and flirtatious Inuzuka, Naruto saw it as his moment of payback for a. Kiba calling him short/shrimp, b. Kiba being all flirtatious when he was Romeo, and c. Just for being Kiba.

All perfectly good enough reasons for Naruto to kick some ass! Dattebayo!

Kiba was on the defense while Naruto took the offense position more than willingly. He charged at the wild-haired young man and attempted a punch. Kiba knocked his fist aside, and easily intercepted a kick with his other arm. Naruto twisted away and dropped to the ground, kicking his leg out in a sweeping arc that his opponent easily leaped over. Anticipating this, Naruto braced himself on his hands as he twisted his body and pushed himself up, kicking his legs at an upward angle and almost striking Kiba beneath the chin, but he had crossed his arms together in order to block the attack. He grabbed Naruto's ankle and tossed him aside, earning a wild "Kyaaa--!" from the boy as he tumbled across the blue mattress.

Not giving the smaller boy any time to compose himself, Kiba wiggled his fingers evilly and "Mwaha-ed" before leaping on to Naruto, which resulted in some rolling around as the two tried to best each other for the top, dominating position. The rolling and tumbling then resulted in some wrestling, and growling, and snarls, and then a yelp from Kiba when Naruto determinedly latched his jaw around Kiba's arm, effectively biting him. The dog lover then retaliated by pulling Naruto's ear, which drew out a startled cry from him, followed by an 'eep' when Kiba tackled him back on to the mattress. More wrestling and tumbling ensued. Sasuke stared. Shikamaru muttered something about them being troublesome. Lee cheered on Naruto. Tenten giggled. Neji rolled his eyes. Gaara and Shino stared.

It wasn't until Sasuke pulled them both apart by the scruff of their collars and gave them both irritated looks that they stopped their wrestling and bowed their heads in submissive gestures to their instructor's reprimanding glare. "I suppose neither of you will mind staying after class to put away the equipment?"

"Not at all, sensei," they chirped in unison like good little boys.

Sasuke, satisfied by their responses, dropped them back on to the mattress and instructed everyone to resume their lesson. Later on that night, after class was over and mostly everyone had gone, Naruto and Kiba helped each other to haul the punching bags and other equipment they used during training into the back storage room. When they were done dumping everything in the back (after some bickering and bantering, of course), they stood in the middle of the room to observe the... mess. Considering they had waited to organize everything _after _they got the equipment into the room, they went on to do that.

It was amusing, Kiba decided, watching the scrawny blonde wrestle to fix a pile of punching bags he had managed to upset. Instead of helping him, the dog lover merely observed, watching as a scowl etched the whiskered boy's face, and how a hint of pink tongue stuck out from the corner of his lips whenever a look of sheer determination and concentration show in those deep, deep blue eyes. He couldn't get earlier out of his mind -- earlier when he had been wrestling with the boy during class. He couldn't get the image of Naruto beneath him, and how his cheeks were flushed, and his lips were parted in breathless pants. He _could not _forget how wonderfully _bright _and _lively _his eyes looked when Naruto was actively doing something he set his mind to doing.

A predatory grin curled at Kiba's lips. He had already decided the first moment he laid eyes on the boy that, one way or another, he was going to turn Naruto _gay. _He had already decided that he was going to have _fun _with Naruto. _Lots _of fun. Kiba was, by nature, a flirtatious guy; a seducer, even. He was bold and wild in that manner, bold in that he went after what he wanted, and wild in that... he did anything to get what he wanted. Kiba was confident as well (overbearingly cocky, some would chose to say). Even if Kiba wasn't somehow unable to get into the boy's _pants _(as was his first true goal), he would at least be very satisfied in turning Naruto gay, or making the boy _realize _his true calling.

Anyone in a ten-mile-bloody-radius could tell that Naruto was gay.

He just had yet to realize it.

Denial wasn't only a river in Egypt, you know?

Naruto, meanwhile, was completely oblivious to the other boy's lack of help as he struggled to roll the punching bags in their pyramid-like structure they had previously been in. Naruto bent over to grab the end of one of the punching bags when he felt a certain someone lean over him from behind. Much larger hands than his grasped the red bag, and a warm breath tickled his lobe as a husky voice all but rumbled into his ear: "Let me help you with that."

An involuntary shudder shook his scrawny frame, and he couldn't help the squeak of Kiba's name when Naruto realized it was the dog lover who was all up against him. From neck up, the blonde turned a very bright red, and didn't even bother to help Kiba (but he easily lifted the bag up on to the very top of the pyramid stack anyway). It was only after time seemed to stretch out for quite some time that Naruto realized Kiba hadn't pulled away, and he could still feel the other boy's body warmth flushed on himself.

"A-ano, Kiba..."

"Hmm..?" He could practically _hear _the smirk in Kiba's voice, but Naruto was far too flustered to care. All he wanted was his personal space back!

"Aa... move?"

Those same hands that had lifted the punching bag up with ease rested on Naruto's thin waist. He nearly jumped from the touch as his body remained tense. Naruto scowled then. "Kiba, what the hell! Get your hands off me!"

He chuckled. It was a deep throaty sound.

And why the _hell _was Naruto noticing how his chuckle sounded anyway?

"But _Naru-chan... _you're just so... cute!"

"..."

Naruto stared flatly at nothing in particular when Kiba started to wiggle and cuddle him, looking like a puppy that had just been given a treat. And here Naruto was, worrying for his safety, when... there was honestly nothing to worry about. Not when one's molester was probably more like a puppy than some big, vicious dog that would eat you up at any moment. Naruto let out an irritating sigh before turning around and punching Kiba in the face. The vein twitching irritably in Naruto's temple didn't go away, not even when Kiba flew into some equipment with a pained, heartbroken cry. He pointed at the immobile lump.

"You! _Bad _dog!"

Kiba whined.

_Obviously _he was used to being referred to like a dog...

(Insert flashback of a little Kiba here, staring at his mommy with big, round,watery puppy dog eyes as he pleaded for just _one _cookie from the cookie jar... to which he received a no, but he stole a cookie later anyway, and then got a scolding from and a smack-upside-the-head, which left him bowing his head and looking like a kicked puppy with his tail between his legs.)

Okay, so maybe Kiba wasn't as good of a seducer as he liked to _think _he was...

It was something he'd have to work on.

But that wasn't really on his mind. At least not when he got himself up and pounced on Naruto, knocking him to the ground and on to his back. The first thing to flash into Kiba's mind was: revenge. And then: ravish (really. If you had the boy pinned beneath you, the same thought would probably cross _your _mind, too). Naruto wasn't thinking along the same lines (Kiba thought they needed to work on their communication. How was this going to work if they weren't on the same _page?_). Naruto tried to punch him -- again -- to which Kiba intercepted and opted to pinning both of the boy's arms down.

Naruto huffed indignantly and glared the most intimidating glare he could muster (which wasn't all _that _intimidating). "Get off me, dog breath!"

Kiba looked down at him triumphantly.

And Naruto couldn't help but note there was another look in those eyes of his.

A more... _predatory _glint.

Naruto's glare faltered and he gulped, suddenly fearing for his life. It seriously looked like Kiba was going to _eat him up! _

_Ohgodohgod, I'm going to die young! _Inner Naruto was franctically running around, proclaiming. _Goodbye, Iruka-sensei! Goodbye, oh sweet Ramen, my one true love! Sakura-chan, I'm sorry we could not meet again!_

But before the dog-monster could gobble him up, intervention stepped in, and Naruto was SAVED! Oh Sweet Hallelujah -- !

"...Interesting."

They both looked to see Gaara standing at the frame of the wide open door. He had changed out of his training clothes and into casual street wear, his duffel bag hanging at his shoulder. Gaara had stayed back for a while in order to use the showers in the locker room.

"Thank god... Gaara! Tell dog breath to get the hell off me!" Naruto huffed.

Neither of them said anything as they made eye-contact. Neither broke it, not even when Kiba slowly got off of Naruto. The blonde sent confused looks from one guy and to the other before shaking his head in frustration as he jumped on to his feet. He whacked Kiba upside the head, effectively shattering the tense stare-down Kiba and Gaara were giving each other.

"What the fuck, Naruto --?!" Kiba growled, holding his head where Naruto had hit him.

He ignored Kiba and beamed at Gaara. "Are you heading home?? Can I walk with you??"

"..." The redhead shrugged and pulled himself away from the door frame (having been leaning on it). He turned around and started to walk off, and Naruto instantly took off after him, waving Kiba a cheery goodbye as he darted to grab his own stuff and hurry to catch up to the jade-eyed boy.

Before Gaara had turned around, Kiba had made eye contact with him again.

It was only for an instant.

A short moment.

But it was at that moment that Kiba knew; that Kiba _saw _the challenge in those pale green eyes of the redhead.

The dog lover smirked to himself.

Apparently... he wasn't the only one interested in Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

Between school, work and life, it's hard to find the time to write. But since I managed to get away from school, work and life, etc, I had time to finish this chapter! But just be patient with me for a little while longer. Just 3-4 more weeks left of my senior year, and I'll be free from the pressures of high school. hooboy.

And please, please, **please... have patience on the SasuNaru. **It will come. And so will the smut. I swear, if I could, I would already have the attraction there, the clothes off, and the getting down and dirty. Believe it. So yes, this fic is/will be SasuNaru overrall. I know it's hard to believe, but just... you know. Patience young grasshoppas.

And as for other questions: Yes there will be GaaNaru, NejiNaru, KibaNaru... And it's been pointed out that **Kyuubi **hasn't been mentioned. Whether Kyuubi will be mentioned/part of this fic is debatable. And I've gotten requests to join as a staff member for some **C2s, **but I'm going to have to turn you dudes down. sorry, haha. I have my own C2 and... I don't bother with it anymore, haha. So yeah.

But **thank you everyone who has reviewed. **I am, honestly, amazed by all the reviews I've received. I don't even really know how to react when i get so many reviews. You guys rock my world.

--_FT-sama  
_previously **gaara is love**.


	9. be my uuuuuuukeee

**Edited as of August 5, 2007. **Thank you closetcase8888 for pointing out the martial arts terms for _seme _and _uke. _I fixed that scene.

Wtfuzz. Hurt/Comfort is a genre for fanfiction. I laugh at that. –was looking at the genres on ffnet-

---

**chapter nine.**

**---**

_Hello my dear, foolish little brother. Seeing as how you haven't returned my call, I decided to call you any –_

**Message erased.**

_Good day, Uchiha-san. This is Takeshi Renji, calling from C&C Corp –_

**Message erased.**

_Oi, gaki, it's Kisame—_

**Message erased.**

_Uchiha Sasuke! You pick up your phone this instant! This is your aunt –_

**Message erased.**

_Hello again, little brother—_

**Message erased.**

_Omgomg, Sasuke-kun! This is Kiri, and oh my god I lov—_

**Message erased.**

**To listen to the rest of your messages press –**

Sasuke sighed as he flipped his cell phone closed. _Why _people liked to harass him via answering machine, he would never know.

It was the weekend and the sun was shining brightly. It was unfortunate that he had to spend some of his time at a teacher conference meeting, but oh well. He had decided not to give Naruto detention during weekends, because even Sasuke didn't want to spend _that _much time at school during the days it wasn't necessary to be there. So, basically, he had the weekends free, save for when he had to teach martial arts class later.

But before that…

Sasuke glanced at his wrist watch.

He was due for lunch with his uncle: Uchiha Mamoru. After his parents died when he was younger, Uchiha Corps was left to his uncle, Mamoru. As soon as Itachi came of age, he took over his parent's business, as was meant to be. His uncle was a good guy, it was just…

If he didn't bug Sasuke so much about working for his parent's company, he would like him.

He already knew why the elder Uchiha wanted to have lunch with him. It was always the same scenario: they would ask each other how things are, talk about life, which would lead to the topic of work, which would lead to Sasuke trying to avoid said topic, but his uncle would remain insistent on said topic and talk about how Sasuke's teaching job isn't good enough for him and that he's off better doing bigger and more worthwhile things like working at Uchiha Corps…

Sasuke sighed. If he didn't feel that Itachi was doing a good job running his parent's business, Sasuke would more than willingly work for U.C. But as it was, Itachi was doing more than just a good job, and his older brother happened to like doing what he was doing. Sasuke, on the other hand, was content teaching. He also felt it wasn't necessary for him to work for the company either. After all, teaching was easier than running a company.

Kind of.

Depending on your view of things.

If you _can't_ handle children, then you'd probably think vice versa.

But, well, Sasuke could handle children. Just give them a glare or two and they'll shut up.

…Aaaanyway – see how he always got off topic? – lunch. He had to go to lunch. With his uncle. And knowing his uncle, he'd probably leave early and abandon Sasuke with the bill. He sighed and paid for the newspaper he selected, thanking the vendor at the stand before heading on his way through the throng of people.

It was amazing, Sasuke mused, how, among a crowd of people, everyone just became… faces. Not even faces, really. Everyone became blurred, and no one really sticks out, because no one bothers to pay attention. Everyone blends and blurs and mixes and mingles, and no one ever stands out. Everyone becomes… amazingly insignificant. But then again, Sasuke was Sasuke, and being Sasuke, he _never _noticed anyone. He was only ever focused on looking forward. There was no glancing back for him. Sideways was out of the question. Straight. He kept his gaze straight.

It's hard to get anywhere in life if you keep looking back.

That's what his mother had taught him.

Sasuke paused in front of a sushi bar and headed in; the same sushi bar he always ate at when meeting with his uncle. His newspaper was folded and tucked beneath his arm and his hands were stuffed into his pockets. The bar wasn't that busy, save for a few people here and there, so he took a seat at the actual bar table where the bartender approached him. Sasuke ordered himself a cup of sake, choosing to wait for his uncle before he ordered anything to eat. He didn't have to wait that long because his uncle showed up a few minutes later.

Uchiha Mamoru came wearing a formal business suit, something Sasuke was used to seeing him in. His rimmed spectacles were perched at the bridge of his nose. He was a proud looking man when he walked, and like Sasuke, always kept his chin up and his gaze pinned forward. It wasn't until he was near his nephew that he loosened his tie and kept his coat open that he looked more lax compared to the business man that entered the bar.

"Sasuke-kun," his uncle acknowledged, gesturing at the bartender to get him some sake as well.

"Oji-san," Sasuke returned the greeting.

They sat in comfortable silence for sometime as they ordered their food. The atmosphere of the bar was relaxing, but Sasuke was already ready for his uncle to go on about the company.

"How is work, Sasuke?" Mamoru asked.

The younger Uchiha quirked an eyebrow. _Getting straight to the point. _"Hm, the usual."

"Not tired of it yet, I see."

The man didn't sound put off.

Sasuke merely 'Hn'ed.

More silence. It wasn't until they were brought their order that Mamoru asked Sasuke about other – usual – things: have you found a girlfriend? Are you interested in any women? When are you going to settle down? There are plenty of women interested in you, Sasuke…

If Uchiha Sasuke was one thing, he was gay.

GayGAYgay_gay_gay**gay**.

He was a living, breathing, walking homosexgod on legs.

And his uncle couldn't accept that.

Just like he can't accept Sasuke's teaching job.

Or the fact that Sasuke lives in an apartment.

Or that Sasuke doesn't _want _to work in the business field.

Or that he doesn't want to have little Sasuke Juniors running around – god _forbid _that ever happens. There was a reason Sasuke taught high school students and not elementary school students. Children were brats. Monsters. Spawns of the devil. End of story.

Women were irksome anyway. If they weren't so irksome, Sasuke probably wouldn't be gay. But as it was, women were irksome, so Sasuke was gay.

Simple logic.

"Sasuke, the company will need you, one day," Mamoru was saying in all seriousness.

When _wasn't _he serious?

But when wasn't Sasuke serious either?

"Hn," came his simple, _serious, _well thought out response as he finished his fourth cup of sake.

Mamoru shook his head. He finished his food and wiping his mouth with his napkin. "You'll see, Sasuke. You'll see." He glanced at his wristwatch and stood up. "I should be going now. I'll be seeing you around. Take care of yourself, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke waved him off.

And was once again stuck with the bill.

He sighed and ordered another cup of sake.

* * *

Naruto learned that though Sasuke's martial arts class focused primarily on Tae Kwon Do, most, if not all, of Sasuke's students excelled in different areas and that Sasuke somehow managed to accommodate all of them and their 'special needs.' Their instructor was very _versatile _in martial arts. 

Tenten, Neji and Lee bested in Kung Fu – Tenten Shaolin Quan, or Shaolin Kung Fu. She was good at combat, but great in weaponry. Naruto learned she could kick his ass using any weapon any day.

Neji and Lee were polar opposite of Tenten and excelled in combat, though Neji was more flexible than the other two. While Lee's weak point was using weapons and Tenten's weak point was hand to hand combat, Neji balanced out the both of them with his weapon _and _hand-to-hand combat skills.

Kiba, like Naruto, bested in Tae Kwon Do, though while Naruto figured he could kick Kiba's ass in that area any time, Kiba was better when it came to grappling techniques, i.e.: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling in particular, and Jujutsu.

Shikamaru was good at Karate, and being the bloody genius that he was, was a fast thinker, and fast at creating up new tactics and reading his opponent's moves. Naruto should know. He's only tried about fifty times and counting to beat Shikamaru in combat, but somehow the pineapple-head was always one step ahead.

Shino, though good in Shaolin Kung Fu, his trademark was Shandong Praying Mantis (Northern Praying Mantis), or praying mantis kung fu, something which Naruto's only ever heard of, but never witnessed. He wasn't surprise that Shino's expertise was the _Praying Mantis. _It suited him quite well, actually.

Sabaku no Gaara. Gaara of the Sand. He even had his own nickname that people knew him by: Shukaku. He was named after the Legendary One-Tailed Demon. It suited Gaara, since he was 'demonic' when in battle. He was speedy and powerful, so Naruto wasn't surprised to learn that Gaara bested in Muay Thai, one of the deadliest forms of martial arts. Naruto heard from Kiba and the others that Gaara took part in illegal underground fights. Whether he actually does is a rumor though, and if he used to or still does is as debatable as it being a rumor.

Naruto cracked his knuckles. In the few weeks he's taken Sasuke's class, he learned that Sasuke liked to incorporate all types of martial arts when he fights. Sometimes Naruto didn't recognize the styles, but other times he did. It didn't really matter though for whenever Naruto sparred with his teacher, he would always lose: that fact never changed. It didn't change the week before, five days ago, three days ago, yesterday, and that particular day – aka the present day.

But it was that particular day when Naruto's quest for an ETERNAL RIVAL would end; when he would finally declare someone as his ETERNAL RIVAL.

Uchiha Sasuke, though older than Naruto, was still young, and still an amazing martial artist. He was versatile; a perfect fighter, and he was intelligent. All of these traits were integrated into combat. Somehow he managed to perfect his movements and the styles of martial arts that he fought with. Naruto knew someone such as Sasuke could only continue to increase his skill and grow stronger and better the more he trains.

Naruto was the same way. He knew he himself had the ability to go beyond. It was because of that, and Sasuke being the perfect bastard that he was, that Naruto wanted to become better than his teacher; to surpass him, and beat him, if at least once. Sasuke may never notice anyone, but everyone always noticed Sasuke. While the Uchiha man was always too busy looking forward and ignoring the world around him, everyone still saw him. Everyone still noticed him. Naruto had to _struggle _just to be glanced at.

And it was because of all that on _that_ particular day Naruto, after being defeated in a spar against Sasuke, jumped up and pointed at him:

"OOOOIII!"

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow, wondering what got the blonde all flared up.

Then again, the boy had far too much energy for his own good. He didn't know when to stay down.

"YOU! Teme!"

Everyone stopped to stare at Naruto as he made a fool of himself.

Surely no one called Sasuke a bastard and got away with it?

"I will beat you one day." Naruto jabbed a thumb against his chest and smiled that face splitting smile of his. "I'll become better than you and kick your ass! Believe it!"

Sasuke's eyebrow rose further, but the amusement in those onyx eyes was unmistakable, as was the smirk quirking at his lips. He 'hn'ed and turned away, heading to the back to get himself a drink of water.

Naruto wasn't sure whether he should take that as a 'hn you're a fool and not worth my time' or a 'hn okay.' He went for the latter.

A skeptical Kiba wandered over to Naruto. "What was that all about?"

"Oh nothing. I just told sensei that I'm going to kick his ass one day, and he agreed that I will." Naruto beamed.

Kiba snorted. "Somehow, I doubt that's what he meant."

Naruto sniffed indignantly at Kiba, but before he could retort, Sasuke came back in with a piece of paper in one hand, and his other holding a towel that he used to wipe the sweat from his face and neck. Everyone paused to look at him questioningly. Sasuke stopped in front of them, glanced at them, at the paper, at them again, and at the paper. His students waited anxiously before Naruto finally cracked from the suspense. "So… what is it?"

"World Tournament," Sasuke said simply as he waved the paper that looked more like a flyer. "In May."

"…"

Naruto blinked in confusion as he watched everyone wander back to whatever they were doing, looking completely disinterested at the news:

"Oh."

"Is that all?"

"Geez, all that suspense for _that, _sensei? Honestly…"

Naruto scratched his head. Wha--?

"We've entered the World Martial Arts Tournament for the past three years."

He looked up in surprise to find Neji talking to him.

"We have placed first in the solo and combat leagues for all years that we've entered. It isn't that we are taking the tournament lightly, but that it isn't a matter of doubt that we will enter the tournament, and that we will win."

"Which is why," Sasuke, over hearing what Neji was saying, got everyone's attention again. "Things are going to be different this year."

Silence.

"Why is that…?" Kiba ventured to ask.

"This year, there are two new teams entering."

Sasuke leaned against the wall and crossed his arms in a casual manner as he relayed the information to his students. "The Sound, and Suna."

Naruto continued to look confused.

The others exchanged looks. Naruto opened his mouth to ask Neji, but he saw him, along with others, glancing at Gaara. The redhead remained impassive from where he sat on the bench. His eyes were closed and his arms were crossed over his chest. A shadow crossed over him, dimming the upper half of his body. They knew he heard, but he gave no reaction, not even a twitch that the news affected him.

Everyone remained tense. Naruto, on the other hand, shifted uncomfortably from the suffocating atmosphere. He _really _didn't understand what was going on, and he didn't remain quiet on that fact:

"…I don't understand… -- so what if they're entering?"

Naruto felt sweat pouring down the back of his neck from the looks he was receiving.

Sasuke peeled himself from the wall calmly.

"Indeed," he mused. "So what if they are entering."

Naruto scowled. "Hey! That's what I sai –"

Sasuke held up a hand, effectively silencing the blonde who glared at him. "Having the Sound and Suna enter the tournament does not phase anything. It will only prove the tournament to be more… exciting. It does not change the fact that we will win."

The tense atmosphere faded, and all doubt disappeared at the words of their instructor. Naruto looked on in wonder. Who would have thought that Sasuke could give pep-talks, or that his own confidence could rub off so easily on his students? But then again, seeing the man so confident, Naruto couldn't help but feel confidence welling up in his chest. He's never entered the World Tournament before. The classes he took weren't competitive, nor were they financially able to enter. But being there, in that dojo, with these people…

Naruto grinned.

Yeah, they were going to win, he decided.

They were going to get stronger until then. That was something everyone agreed with.

* * *

It was habit for Gaara to wait for Naruto, or for Naruto to wait for Gaara whenever a martial arts class was over. That way, they would head home together, since their home was in the same direction. It's been a few weeks since Naruto 'saved Gaara from the group of thugs'; a few weeks since Naruto's detention started. He was glad it would be over soon, but then that meant his tutoring sessions with Sasuke would be over. Which meant he'd go back to _failing _his classes. He wasn't looking forward to _that. _Ever since Naruto first asked Sasuke for help, detention had become a time for Naruto to do his homework, and for Sasuke to help him with it. 

Naruto realized he hadn't mind detention during that time. In a way, he had looked forward to it, because it meant him… learning. Naruto didn't learn so well in a classroom environment. He developed more when it was one-on-one, and he had the teacher's complete attention. The blonde frowned thoughtfully to himself as he wondered what he was going to do _now._

"What."

Gaara's voice interrupted his thoughts.

It was mind boggling how Gaara could turn a question into a statement.

Naruto pouted. "I don't know what to do. My detention sentence is going to be over soon. That means there won't be anymore tutoring with Uchiha-teme! Which means, I'm going to go back to failing my classes!"

Gaara stared at Naruto with a bland expression and shrugged. He turned his jade eyes forward. It wasn't his place to fix people's problems, but then again, Naruto did miss the obvious, which the smaller boy was prone to do: "Ask if he can continue to help you."

He mulled the option over. "Okay… I'll try asking him…"

Gaara merely 'Hmm'ed in response.

The heat of the summer was diminishing, that much was obvious with the much cooler atmosphere and the breezy wind that blew some leaves from trees. The nights became chilly, so Naruto and Gaara opted to wearing sweaters as they headed on their way home.

"Hmm, Gaara…" Naruto linked his hands behind his head as he looked up at the starry sky. There were stray clouds filtering up above, though scarcely. "Sabaku no Gaara. That is what people call you, no? Gaara of the Sand."

"Mmhm," the redhead drawled out. It wasn't hard to guess where Naruto was headed with all of this.

"Why was everyone… ano… not too happy to hear that the Sound and Suna are going to be joining the tournament?" Naruto looked up at him quizzically.

"Sound… and Suna… have very skilled fighters," Gaara explained slowly and silently after a moment's silence. "Though they have never been able to enter the world tournament, they have fought before in free-competitive battles." He paused. "To put it simply, they are Konoha's biggest rivals."

"Aa." Naruto sounded as if all made sense again. Gaara glanced at him curiously and noticed by the smiling, content look on his face that all probably did make sense to him. Gaara figured the blonde already made assumptions, and understood without him having to say –

"Sou ka!" Naruto exclaimed in a moment of enlightenment. He tapped his fist against his open palm and beamed brightly at Gaara. "So that's why everyone's all wary of Suna! 'Cause you're Sabaku no Gaara! Gaara of the Sand! They're going to accuse you of stealing their name and want to beat you up!"

--never mind.

The blonde was as dense as he looked.

Apparently he didn't get the far-from-subtle hint that Gaara was born in Suna, but for reasons only known to him, left Suna and wasn't on good terms with anyone from there.

"Don't worry Gaara! I won't let them beat you up!"

Said boy rolled his eyes up Heaven-wards.

He didn't bother to explain the real reason for tension between him and Suna. If Naruto didn't realize it on his own, someone else would tell him. Sooner or later. Or he'll just remain clueless his whole life. Whichever happens, happens.

"Hey, hey! Let's race!"

He was met with an incredulous stare.

Gaara?

Race?

For _fun?_

Kidding me?

The very thought was unthinkable. Preposterous. Ridiculous. Absurd. Farfetched –

"C'mon, Gaara! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaseeee???"

The little blonde looked up at him with his rather _large _and _bright _blue eyes.

Gaara blinked.

This was Gaara we were talking about. Gaara-Gaara. Sabaku no Gaara. _The_ Gaara who is like a mountain: unmoved. Unperturbed. Undisturbed by even the strongest currents of wind. He never budged. Nope. Never went out of his way to doing stuff for people. Nuh-uh. Never did things for… _fun. _No sir-ee.

Naruto pouted when he received a blunt "No."

He wasn't put out though. On the contrary, it just made him more determined.

"Pleeeeeeeeease, Gaara? Just for a little bit??"

"No."

"Not even for fun?"

"No."

"Why not?!"

"…"

"Gaara! C'mon! Stop bein' suck a prick!"

"…"

"PUH-LEEEEEEASE?"

"No."

Naruto crossed his arms and glared. One way or another, he was going to make Gaara give in, and just as he promised himself that, his lips widened into a devious grin. Gaara eyed him suspiciously. What was the blonde planning…?

"Gaara, your shoes are untied," Naruto pointed out innocently.

Jade eyes narrowed, but he looked down and lo and behold, his shoelaces were, indeed, untied.

"Shouldn't you tie them?" the innocent-but-not-so-innocent-at-the-same-time blonde inquired.

Gaara remained immobile.

His temple twitched the slightest before he finally gave in and set his duffle bag down next to his feet. He crouched down and started to tie his shoes right when… in a blur of orange and black, his duffle bag was snatched, and the little conniving twerp took off with his bag --!

A low growl rumbled from his throat, and after tying his shoelaces – because honestly, Gaara didn't want to trip over them – the redhead took off after the rambunctious and bold blonde. He really was bold. He talked back to Sasuke. Called him a bastard. Spoke to Gaara. Stole Gaara's gym bag…

Either the kid had a death wish, was suicidal, really courageous, or just really, really idiotic.

Gaara smirked to himself when Naruto squeaked as soon as the redhead caught up to him. Naruto, spurred by saving his life, gained more speed and dashed far ahead of Gaara. He ran into the same park where those thugs had tried to beat up Gaara before, and maneuvered through the playground set. The demon fighter was hot on his heels, and Naruto couldn't help but notice whenever he glanced back at the taller boy that his eyes looked alive, and his mouth was pulled in the ever slightest of smirks.

Naruto, on the other hand, couldn't suppress the laughs and giggles that shook his frame whenever he dodged and danced around Gaara, effectively avoiding his hands as he reached out to grab the sneaky, whiskered boy. He was a speedy little thing when he wanted to be, Gaara gave him that much. Whenever he came close to grabbing Naruto – arm, shoulder, by the sweater, by the hood of his sweater – he always just… slipped away. Gaara thought it would end with him getting his bag back somehow, even if my physical means, but what he did not expect, however, was for the blonde to suddenly stop, turn to him with that contagious grin of his, and hold the bag out _to _him.

"Here you go!"

Gaara blinked.

He was obviously confused, so he opted to staring at Naruto.

The blue-eyed teen continued holding the bag out expectantly.

Gaara warily moved closer; steadily, steadily… His eyes were narrowed in suspicion as he slowly – steadily, steadily! – reached out for his bag. Naruto continued smiling. Gaara continued reaching. Reaching… reaching… until his bag was back in his arms. He blinked at Naruto again, who laughed.

"I got you to run!"

A thoughtful look passed Gaara's face before he shook his head in amusement. Indeed. Naruto _did _get him to run.

He couldn't help the smirk that (once again) tugged at his lips. Naruto's smile widened. It was the closest thing to a smile that he's gotten so far out of Gaara, and it was nice. Naruto, after a moment's contemplation, grabbed Gaara's hand and proceeded to drag the Silent One along, rambling about how Gaara needs to get out more and have some fun, _live life a little! _he rambled, eyes squinted in that foxy manner of his. Gaara permitted his classmate to pull him around, _why, _he had no idea. It probably had to do with the shock of someone holding his hand still registering in his brain.

Yeah. Uzumaki Naruto was brave, Gaara mused as he observed him curiously, watching how expressive he was – verbally, physically, and with his eyes – and how… everything about him seemed completely, truly genuine. He didn't hide behind any false smiles. Didn't pretend to be civil with Gaara. Didn't pretend he liked Gaara. He was honest. He was non-judgmental.

That was probably why Gaara found him intriguing. Not even when he gave the small one the silent treatment, he never backed down. He was open and honest with everyone. He was the first person to ever, _ever _turn around in their seat in class to smile and say hi to him.

To treat him like a normal person.

To treat him… as if he wasn't something to be feared.

So Gaara took some sadistic pleasure in knowing there were people frightened of him, but still, it was nice to know there was someone who could look past all that and accept it.

Gaara watched curiously as Naruto flailed his arms around, huffing and pouting, clearly irked that Gaara didn't seem to be listening to a word he was saying.

Uzumaki Naruto…

He was something else.

* * *

"Love," Genma explained gleefully to his class, "can be expressed in many, many ways." 

They went from reading Shakespeare, to writing poetry.

_Love _poetry. Naruto made a face.

"It can be expressed in subtle ways, such as… a hug, maybe a kiss on the cheek, a gentle brush of the hand, caress of the cheek…"

Naruto wanted to gag Genma. He could tell by the sickening looks the rest of the class was sending to their teacher that he wasn't the only one with such sentiments.

"Or, it can be expressed… in not so subtle ways. More… _intense _kisses… sex, out-right declaring you love the person, sex, marriage, sex…"

Naruto groaned. How come it seemed as if most – if not all – of his teachers had _problems? _Kakashi and Genma were perverts. Sasuke had a stick-or-who-knows-what shoved up _his _ass, and was a frigid bastard. Gai was just plain _freaky. _And his history teacher, Ibiki, _frightened _Naruto. The only normal teacher Naruto had was Asuma, his art teacher, but then again the guy smoked. A lot.

"And _sex _is the most profound way to express your love," Genma crowed much to the discomfort of his class, snapping Naruto out of his mulling. "Especially sex between two males. Two males such as me and Raidou-chan."

That's when the paper balls flew.

Who knew Genma could dodge so well?

Naruto snickered as he threw a well-aimed paper plane at Genma's head and watched in satisfaction as it hit his target. The bell rang then and the class cheered, grateful to be _away _from Genma, who always so shamelessly hit on his students, even _when _he was much older than them, _and _had a boyfriend.

"Pervert," Naruto mumbled and cast Genma a disapproving look as he walked by.

His English teacher waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Naruto hurried out faster than before.

Kiba fell in step beside him and looped an arm around the shorter boy's shoulders. "So, runt…"

'Runt's' eyebrow twitched.

"How 'bout another date, eh?"

"Fat chance, dog breath," Naruto retorted, arms crossed as he stalked to the cafeteria, shoving off Kiba's arm and catching up to Shikamaru, Chouji and Shino.

Kiba trailed after him with a whine, but his whining didn't stop him from staring. At Naruto's ass. The fact that Naruto's pants were rather tight on him only encouraged the dog lover to stare more.

Yeeeeeeeeaah he so wanted to tap that…

And if Inuzuka Kiba knew one thing, it was that half the body population of school shared his sentiments. He wasn't the only one staring whenever Naruto would bend over to pick something up, or when Naruto happened to walk by, or during PE when Naruto would come out of the shower, all wet and dripping with a towel around his waist…

Kiba drooled.

If he had a tail, it'd be wagging.

Shikamaru eyed his childhood friend warily. He already knew what Kiba was thinking about, as did Shino and Chouji, but Naruto remained oblivious as he handed the roguish teen a napkin to wipe away his drool. They sat down at their usual table in the cafeteria after they bought their food.

Naruto broke his chopsticks apart, eyeing his cup of noodles with a hungry, predatory stare.

"Aa, my precious ramen… Today it's just about you and me. Just you. And me." He licked his lips, eyes gleaming evilly. He cackled. "Ku ku ku…"

"Yare, yare…" Shikamaru looked at Naruto through half-lidded eyes. "Hasn't anyone ever told you not to play with your food?"

Naruto flashed him a grin and shrugged. He gave a hearty "Itadakimasu!" before digging in and slurping away cheerily at his noodles. Though the school's noodles would never be as good as Ichiraku's, it still satisfied the blonde. So long as it was ramen, he wasn't one to complain.

Even though Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba have only known Naruto since the beginning of the year, Naruto fit in quite well in their humble little group. It was as if he's always been with them, as one of their friends. He wiggled his way into their lives so easily, so naturally, as if that's where he was meant to be all along. It was strange how much apart of their group Naruto had become with ease, but at the same time, it wasn't that strange. It was natural. It wasn't like they would trade him for anyone or anything else.

Naruto had a charm that everyone couldn't help but fall for, even the lazy-ass genius, Shikamaru (but he still thought Naruto was troublesome).

But ever since Naruto joined in their group, he made it blatantly obvious of his obsession with ramen, and the color orange. Though he wasn't allowed to wear anything but his school uniform, he brought along other stuff to show off his favorite color, such as his notebook, his led pencil, his pen, his nonexistent binder… (by nonexistent, meaning lost in his locker, never to be used). The boy was an open book. They knew his likes. They knew he carried around a frog-wallet-thing that he called Gama-chan. They knew not to give him sugar in any shape or form because it would only boost up his energy-level…

They knew him _so _well already that they even knew he was gay – before he, Naruto himself, did!

Shikamaru shook his head and brought himself out of his musings. He really was troublesome.

"Argh, Naruto! Can you stop doing that?!" Kiba barked as he covered his face after Naruto slurped some noodles, splashing soup on to Kiba.

He grinned impishly and waved his chopsticks, chirping, "Sorry!"

"Now you have something on your face," Kiba pointed out amusedly.

Soup had splattered on his cheeks in tiny flecks, and there was a small piece of noodle stuck near the corner of his lip. Kiba reached over to wipe it, but another voice suddenly intervened:

"Here, let me."

Naruto's eyes widened and his whole back snapped up straight when he felt something _wet _and _warm _trail from the corner of his lips, and drag all the way up his cheek and to the corner of his eye. His whole body was rigid stiff as he tried to register what just happened. There was silence at the table.

When it finally _did _register in Naruto's head what happened, he went red from neck up and turned around, jumping as he pointed an accusing finger at the smiling, pale face that greeted him. "GAAAAAAH! SAAAII! YOU PERVERT!"

And before anyone could stop Naruto:

_Punch!_

* * *

They were sitting outside of the principle's office, each occupying different ends of the bench, much to Naruto's persistency. 

To say the blonde was angry was an understatement. He was FUMING mad.

Freaking Sai --!

Why did he have to be such a pervert?!

Gah!! _AND WHY IS HE STARING AT ME LIKE HE WANTS TO EAT ME?!!!!??_

Naruto shook his fist at Sai. "What's your problem!?"

Sai tilted his head and stared at Naruto with innocent confusion. "My problem?"

"Yeah! Your problem!! Why'd you go and lick me for?!"

"Because you looked so edible –"

"Aaaahhh! Never mind! Never mind!" Naruto promptly clamped his hands over his ears. He regretted asking. Sai continued to smile so Naruto shot him a look and eyed the blooming bruise on the pale boy's cheek. He tried to stomp down the guilty feeling welling at the pit of his stomach. "Why do you have to be such a pervert?? If you weren't a pervert, I wouldn't have had to hit you, you know!"

"Aah, why indeed," Sai mused as he pressed a finger to his chin in a thoughtful manner. "I guess… Because I want to be Naruto-kun's friend!"

Blue eyes narrowed at him warily as he mumbled, "Licking me and telling me my penis is small isn't a way to make friends with me…"

Sai gave him a confused look. "Then how should I go about it?"

"Well…" Naruto started matter-of-factly. "You just go up to them, introduce yourself, and ask if you can be their friend!"

Sai blinked. "That is… simple."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, forgetting his earlier grudge. "Yeah! Now you try it!"

"Hmmm…" He paused for a moment, as if in thought and thinking it over. He then smiled at Naruto, eyes curved closed in a pleasant manner. He had a nice smile, Naruto thought, when he wasn't faking it. "I am Sai. Do you want to be my friend?"

Naruto grinned. "I am Naruto, and sure I'll be your friend." He patted Sai on the back. When they had moved a bit to the center of the bench, Naruto didn't know. "See, easy right?"

Sai nodded in agreement.

Both boys failed to notice the amused stare they were receiving by the man leaning on the door frame. He had a long white mane, and a smirk was etched on his square jaw. Jiraiya, principal of Konoha's All Boy's High School figured he didn't need to give the boys any punishments since they had already worked things out themselves. He started to head back into the office when a particular piece of their conversation had him chuckling:

"All I do is ask when I want something?"

Naruto nodded in confirmation.

"Naruto-kun, will you be my uke??"

"…."

"…"

It was Naruto's turn to look confused. "You want me to be your receiver?"

"No, no." Sai shook his head and smiled at the naivety and innocence that is Uzumaki Naruto. "Words can have many different meanings. Uke, in the way I'm referring to, not the martial arts way, means... a," he paused thoughtfully, "really good friend."

Naruto beamed. "Ok! I'll be your uke!"

Sai's smile widened. "Great."

This making-friends and getting-into-said-friend's-pants business was easier than Sai thought.

* * *

Kiba looked positively furious when he saw Naruto and Sai walking out of the principal's office. Maybe if _Sai didn't have his bloody arm around Naruto's shoulders _or that _they looked like they were such good friends _Kiba wouldn't be so mad. But as it was, Sai _did _have an arm around Naruto's shoulders, and they looked as if Sai did not just lick Naruto's cheek, or that Naruto had just punched Sai in the face! 

WHAT… the fuck. Honestly.

Kiba was snarling beneath his breath as he resisted the impulse to break the arm around Naruto's shoulders.

"Jealousy is quite… becoming of you," Shikamaru drawled out.

The brunette was practically radiating shock wave after shock wave of jealousy and homicidal-intent. Kiba only seethed more and more the closer Naruto and… _Sai _got. As if sensing someone with the intention to kill him, Sai lifted his gaze up and smiled darkly at the Inuzuka who was openly glaring at him, looking like he wanted nothing more than to clobber him on the spot. Naruto dragged Sai over, waving cheerily.

"You guys know Sai, yeah? Well, he's one of my friends now!"

Kiba grit his teeth and bit out, "Why the sudden… change in heart, Naruto?"

"Ah well, Sai's not that bad of a guy!" Naruto grinned as he brought his hands behind his head. "He's pretty cool, actually!"

Naruto introduced Sai to Shikamaru and Chouji, but he could only stare on in confusion as, when he introduced him to Kiba, the two shook hands but simply refused to let go. It was more than obvious that they were trying to crush each other's hands, and that sparks of animosity were flying thickly between the two.

"It is nice to meet you," Kiba practically growled out, a forced grin on his lips.

If looks could kill…

Naruto looked worriedly between the two.

Sai's gaze was just as challenging and deadly as Kiba's, though he appeared more calm as he purred, "Likewise."

_DiedieDIEdieDIEDIEDIIEEEEEEEEEdie__**DIIEE, **_was the constant mantra in Kiba's head as he continued to squeeze the heck out of Sai's hand. His brow twitched haphazardly.

"Heh heh, guys… hey… c'mon… guys! You can stop shaking hands now!"

They didn't hear him.

They continued to stare each other down, neither backing up.

The tension and murderous-intent was becoming rather stifling…

Shikamaru sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "How troublesome…" He started to walk away, Chouji at his side, munching away happily at his chips when he glanced back at Naruto who looked torn between following him and Chouji, and staying with Kiba and Sai to make sure they didn't kill each other. "Come, Naruto."

The blonde huffed and glared at Kiba and Sai before he took off after Shikamaru.

The two didn't even notice the others leave.

* * *

Sasuke was… more irritable than before. 

Itachi – yes older brother Itachi – was going to be visiting Sasuke… in a week.

His brow twitched at the very thought. He was _not _looking forward to seeing his brother _at all. _If he expected Sasuke to let him stay in _his _apartment, he had another thing coming. Blood-related or not, Sasuke refused to have that man in his home. Just having to see him for a few hours was bad enough.

The pencil in his grasp snapped in half.

Sasuke looked at it blankly before sighing and dumping it into the waste bin. He pulled open a drawer and fished out a pen. They're a bit more difficult to break during moments of outrage.

His annoyance only increased when he heard a rather _cheerful _exclamation of "Uchiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiha-temeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…!" followed by a blur of blue and blonde slide by the door. Sasuke snorted at Naruto's attempt to skid to a halt, but in his haste, was running to fast and therefore went right by the classroom door. The blonde hopped into the entrance and smiled brightly. "Uzumaki Naruto is here!"

"Oh. Joy," Sasuke drawled out dryly as he eyed the blonde with disinterest. He raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. "You seem rather happy to come to detention."

Naruto stuck his tongue out as he walked in, dumping his coat and bag on to one of the desks. "As a matter of fact, I am happy because I have a new friend! It's funny, really, because at first I didn't like him –"

Queue Sasuke to tune Naruto out, which he did.

" – said my penis was small so I punched him –"

Sasuke sighed as he read over short answer questions he had his Physiology class do out of the text book. A lot of their grammar was atrocious!

"—was eating ramen –"

Really. If Sasuke was an English teacher, there'd be red marks all over his students' papers.

"—licked me and so I punched him—"

The raven-haired man pressed his fingers to his eyes. He was starting to get a headache.

"—he just wanted to be my friend so—"

Sasuke stifled a groan. What did he ever do to deserve such an evil, conniving brother like Itachi??

"—and he asked me to be his uke so I agreed, and –"

Sasuke sat up abruptly, spluttering. "Wait – _what?_"

Naruto paused and stared at Sasuke in confusion, before pouting indignantly. "Were you even listening to a word I was saying?!"

"Did you just say – did you – what-"

"I said I agreed to be Sai's uke!" Naruto beamed.

Sasuke stared.

O-kaaaaaaaaaay… _too _much information.

He buried his face in his hand, muttering, "I really didn't need to know that…"

"And Sai is Naruto's uke too!"

Wait, what?

Sasuke looked up again, blinking in confusion.

_Two _ukes? Was that possible?

He eyed Naruto incredulously. "Do you even know what an uke is, dobe?"

"Yeah!" He snorted. "A really good friend!"

"…"

Sasuke stared at Naruto flatly.

"And who told you that?"

"Sai did!"

"…Huh." Go figure. Naruto was far too naïve, innocent, and idiotic. Of course he'd believe that.

"What!" Naruto eyed Sasuke. "Why do you sound like that?!"

"Hmm… Nothing. It's nothing." Sasuke went back to grading papers.

He _refused _to be the one to tell Naruto what 'uke' meant. He simply, utterly _refused. _He taught math and physiology, _not_ sex education.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kiba and Sai, finally breaking out of their death lock of eyes and hands, looked around in confusion. 

Where'd everyone go?

* * *

Question from Ureko: "The other pairings with Naruto, how far are you going to take them? Are they just one-sided pairings, make-outs, limes or full lemons?" 

My answer: GOOD QUESTION. It's debatable. I'm still unsure how far I should have them go with Naruto. Should I leave Naruto PURE AND UNTAINTED FOR SASUKE? Or… UMMYOUKNOW? Still in the process of being debated. (

But omg –smooches reviewers- thankyouallsomuch. Love you guys. Like forreals. Keep reviewing, ok? Feedback rocks.

_--FT-sama_


	10. falling face first

**Chapter edited as of Sept 23, 2007. Mai, you rock. -hearts-**

Aaah sorry dudes for not updating in like decades, lol. Forreals though. I'm like pulling everything out of my ass right now to finish this chapter, and here it is!

And just so you guys know, because it's irrelevant to the story, but might still be kind of necessary to know so you can get an idea, Naruto's class schedule is as follows: Monday, he has every class, and from Tuesday-Friday, it's 3 classes a day, 2 hours per class. That's how it was like at my high school last year, haha.

OH YEAH THANK YOU **closetcase8888** for pointing out something I've completely forgotten about the terms 'uke' and 'seme' in regards to martial arts. I went and fixed that scene, though it still has the same outcome.

And being in college and all… ya think it'd be the reason for me not updating often… but it's actually because of work. I swear it sucks out all of my will and energy.

* * *

Males were, by nature, competitive. When the prize was something two opposing males both wanted, it was only natural they would do whatever it takes to be the victor. It was human nature – _male _human nature – to be competitive, possessive, needy, grabby, clingy to whatever it is that they want, and to fight with tooth and nail against anyone who stands in his way of his _prize._

…Or at least, that all proved true for Inuzuka Kiba and Sabaku no Gaara.

Determination, victory… those were enough reasons for a man's fears to be driven away.

It made one feel capable of standing up to the Devil himself.

In Kiba's case, Gaara was the Devil, and he was the lad who hath overcometh his fears in order to woo a certain… blonde damsel.

Okay maybe not so much a _damsel, _but a skinny little blonde who could kick ass.

**---  
**

**chapter ten.**

**---**

"Kyaaaah!"

Used to a certain Uzumaki's random outbursts, the student body went on as they normally do during lunch.

"We're going to be having a carnival!" Naruto exclaimed, bouncing in his seat quite giddily next to Kiba who had scooted a bit away when Naruto had all but _yelled _in his ear.

Shikamaru looked unperturbed by the news. Carnivals were just too damn troublesome for him. Kiba rolled his eyes. "You sound as if you've never been to a carnival before…"

Naruto paused and frowned thoughtfully. "Well…"

Kiba eyed the blonde critically. "…You're serious? You've _never _been to a carnival before?"

He received a negative as the smaller one shook his head confusedly.

"Dude! Have you been on any rides before? Played any of those booth games?"

"Nope! That's why I can't wait for the carnival! Iruka-sensei said he's going to take me!"

"Man… you have led one deprived life." Kiba patted him on the head sympathetically.

Naruto pouted. "It's not my fault. Iruka-sensei was just worried for my safety. He said the rides could stop working or I could slip out of the ride and fall and plummet to my death… or those games, like those gun games, could backfire and I could accidentally shoot myself… or when I was younger I could have gotten lost…"

Kiba looked skeptical. He glanced at Shino to see if the guy shared his same sentiments.

"Iruka-sensei needs to loosen up…"

"…"

"Yeah, I know he's just worried but _honestly… _talk about uptight…"

"Iruka-sensei isn't uptight!" Naruto interrupted, hastily defending his guardian. Though he was always amazed at how Kiba could somehow interpret Shino's silence, he wasn't about to let anyone bad-mouth Iruka! "I persuaded him to let me go to the one here!"

"Uh huh. What _else _doesn't Iruka-sensei let you do?" Kiba decided to ask instead.

"Well… he doesn't like it when I go places by myself… and he doesn't let me cook 'cause I might cut myself or something… and he won't let me run around the house with scissors in my hand…"

Kiba snorted amusedly. He understood that Iruka did it all for Naruto's safety because the boy was a death hazard when left to his own devices. Now that he thought about it, Kiba wasn't at all surprised Naruto led a 'deprived life.' Might as well lock the boy up in a bubble and be done with it. Or, well, might as well lock the boy up in a bubble with _Kiba in it… _Kiba grinned to himself and nodded, pleased with that thought. Naruto looked at his friend weirdly, wondering what he was grinning about but decided it was better not to ask. By the look in the dog-lover's eyes, it was clear Naruto didn't _want _to know what was going on in his head.

The blonde shook his head and turned his gaze else where. He spotted a head of familiar red hair moving smoothly through the crowd of students with his lunch in hand and Naruto stood up, beaming for all he was worth as he waved the other boy over. "Gaara! Oi, Gaaaaara!"

A vein in said redhead's temple twitched as he ignored the callings of Naruto. Maybe if he kept walking and avoided eye contact, Naruto would think Gaara simply didn't hear him… But as it was, Naruto's shouting was becoming obnoxiously louder, and Gaara was receiving odd stares so he let out a sigh and changed course, heading right for Naruto's lunch table. He stopped and didn't bother to sit down since he wasn't planning on joining them, even though he knew that's what Naruto wanted him to do.

"You called?" Gaara drawled out.

"Join us, Gaara!"

"No, that's –" But before he could further protest, Naruto shoved Kiba over, scooted himself and tugged Gaara down so he was plopped down next to him. Gaara didn't even have time to protest! He wasn't aware of the disgruntled look on his face but the others were, though said others chose not to comment as not to anger him. Sabaku no Gaara was always cool and calm and distanced from the world, but when provoked, he was frightening. Having known him longer than Naruto, the others were more aware of that, all except for the blonde.

But it didn't seem like they had to worry about Naruto, because while Gaara was a ticking bomb, he seemed extremely patient with Naruto – disgruntled, but still patient.

It was actually quite amusing to the more observant members of Naruto's close-knit group of friends. In the short time Naruto's been at their school, he's probably had more contact with Gaara than anyone else. No one really understood what was so special about him. He was loud. He was obnoxious. He was hyper and temperamental. But there was something about his _smile _and his _eyes _and the open emotions he showed on his face…

Naruto turned to Gaara with a wide smile plastered on his face. "Ne, ne, Gaara! Are you going to help with the carnival?"

"No," was the simple, gruff response. Did Gaara _look _like the type to spend time in some carnival? He didn't think so either.

"Well why don't you?" Naruto asked.

Clearly he was asking the impossible from Gaara.

"No," he repeated.

Naruto frowned before shrugging. "Well, you don't know what you're missing out on!"

Actually, Gaara knew full well what he was missing out on, and he didn't care _one bit. _He volunteered to help at the carnival last year, and he found himself working at one of the game booths that involved shooting water out of 'guns.' Needless to say he had some – _several – _customers below the age of nine-years old that thought it would be funny to shoot _him _with the water guns. Of course the children were seen not too long later running away screaming, leaving behind a furious and drenched redhead that had leaped over the counter.

And then he had been moved to another game booth that involved darts… Let's just say people don't know how to aim.

"Sure we don't," Kiba said, rolling his eyes. "Hope ya have the time of your life."

Naruto stuck his tongue out. "We will!"

"We?" At this, the dog lover quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah!" Naruto beamed, throwing an arm around Shikamaru. "Won't we, Shika?"

The pineapple-head boy eyed the blonde warily. "Maa… Whenever did I agree to going to the carnival with you? Carnivals are too troublesome, Naruto…"

He pouted. "Goooo with meee, Shikamaru! Pl_ease?_"

"No," Shikamaru said simply, looking away from the puppy-look Naruto was giving him, knowing if he stared too long, he'd find it too troublesome to say _no._

"Psh. Fine." Naruto huffed, pulling away before smiling sweetly at Chouji from across the table. "Chouji…?"

"Gomen, Naruto. I'm going out of town for a few days with my family," the porky boy responded apologetically.

Naruto looked crestfallen. He turned hopeful eyes to Shino who merely stared at him through his sunglasses.

"…"

"…"

Naruto made a face but quickly got over his disappointment with the others as he rounded on Gaara once more.

"Gaara!"

"Naruto," Gaara grunted out, a twitch in his temple.

"Go to the carnival with meee."

"No."

"C'mon."

"No."

"There will be rides?"

"…"

"Cotton candy?"

"…"

"Games??!"

"…"

"You get to spend some quality time with me?"

Gaara looked at him, before drawling out, "…No thanks."

"I'll go with you, dickless."

All eyes swiveled to the raven-haired boy standing behind Gaara and Naruto, smiling.

"Hey don't call me tha--!" Naruto started in an outburst, but quickly brushed it off and brightened up when he realized what Sai had said. "You will?!"

Naruto instantly latched himself on to Sai. "You're so awesome! Man! I thought _no one _would want to go with me!"

There was a rattle as Kiba suddenly stood up from his seat, palms slammed on to the table. "You know what? I've had a change of heart. I'll go with you too, Naruto."

"…I think I'll go too," Gaara inputted calmly.

Surely leaving the blonde alone with the idiot dog lover and the dick-obsessed boy wouldn't go down so well? It was only natural Gaara should go along, to make sure they didn't do anything _stupid…_

"Tch, so troublesome," Shikamaru muttered, obviously aware as to why Kiba and Gaara suddenly volunteered to tag along. Shino made no comment, but Chouji seemed amused, although engrossed in his food. Naruto, on the other hand, remained oblivious to the brewing competition as he was far too happy that he had more than one companion to go to the carnival with. He couldn't wait!

But his happiness was short lived when he recalled what Sai had called him, and from there, Naruto proceeded to strangle the dark-haired boy, to which Kiba and Gaara made no attempt to stop him.

* * *

"We're going to have a test," Sasuke was telling his class.

Naruto almost fell out of his chair.

"This Friday," Sasuke continued to say as he leaned back on his desk, his ankles and arms crossed. "It's going to be on the past two chapters we've been covering. After each chapter there is a chapter review. Do each review for homework. They'll be due on the day of the test. We'll review everything the day before."

The bell rang.

"Class dismissed."

There was a series of collective groans as the class contemplated their impending doom: their first Physiology test in Uchiha-sensei's class. They scuttled out of the classroom, Naruto being the last one left sitting at his desk. He had his chin tucked on his hands with his elbows on the desk. There was no point for him to get up when he had a detention to serve.

It was Naruto's last day of detention, and he had completely forgotten to ask Sasuke if he could keep tutoring him even after his sentence was over. He really didn't know how to go about asking him. He felt as if his pride was being shattered just thinking about the groveling that might ensue. But then again, Naruto wasn't _so _prideful that he didn't know when to ask for help when he needed it. His binder and Physiology book was opened on his desk and Sasuke went back to his own to sit down on his chair. The man was shuffling through papers when he heard Naruto speak up,

"Ne, sensei…"

"Hm?" Sasuke lifted his gaze, an eyebrow quirking. Naruto only ever called him 'sensei' when around other people (like Iruka), or when he wanted something and was feeling rather embarrassed about asking it.

"Detention's going to be over…" the boy started, frowning thoughtfully as he tried to figure out how to word his question. "And… well, detention has become… more like tutoring sessions to me. And, I was wondering…" He trailed off.

Sasuke smirked. He leaned back in his chair, Naruto having his full attention now. The blonde looked flustered as he realized his teacher was looking at him with a look akin to teasing; maybe not so much mockery, but something more playful, and taunting. "You want me to keep tutoring you."

It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"Well…" Naruto wrung his hands out before sighing, shoulders slumped in defeat. "…Yeah."

"Okay."

"Eh?" The boy blinked at him in surprise. "Okay?"

"To your question: okay," Sasuke repeated calmly. He stood up and walked over, and Naruto continued to watch in confusion as his teacher pulled up a seat next to Naruto's desk. Sasuke sat down so he was straddling the chair, his arms folded over the back of it. "Well?"

Naruto blinked some more before realizing that Sasuke was going to help him with his homework. Beaming, he moved his book and papers closer to Sasuke so he could see what Naruto had done so far.

While Sasuke went over a particular part of the chapter that had confused Naruto, the blonde looked up, noting for the first time how close he was to his teacher. He was so close that he could trace every line and contour of the older man's face; so close he could see how his lashes nearly touched his cheeks whenever he would lower his lids to look down at something. The man was handsome, breathtakingly so, and Naruto didn't have to bend the other way to know that.

…Not that he was checking the man out or anything.

Even as a straight guy, Naruto had to admit Sasuke was hot.

It wasn't very often _anyone _came across someone as physically perfect as Sasuke.

Perhaps it was envy that had led Naruto to study his teacher's facial features, but he didn't think much of it anymore when Sasuke lifted his eyes up and gave his student a quizzical look. Naruto hastily lowered his own gaze and focused on his work, feeling the embarassed blush burning on his face, neck and ears.

They became so engrossed in their work that Sasuke nearly fell out of his chair with a heart attack when Naruto abruptly pushed his chair back and stood up, slapping his hand on his desk.

"I almost forgot!"

He grabbed his bookcase and dumped it on the desk, shuffling around inside and whipping out two cups of instant ramen. Naruto beamed, ignoring the incredulous look his teacher was giving him. "I don't know 'bout you but I'm hungry!"

"…" Sasuke sighed. He released his clutch over his heart, for he had been sure his heart had started to seize on him. Wordlessly he took the two cups of instant ramen and wandered over to the teacher's lounge in order to warm them up, all the meanwhile being trailed by a chattering blonde.

He was going on and on about some carnival – Hm, hadn't Sasuke heard something about this from the other teachers? Not that he ever paid attention. Whenever the teachers had a meeting, Sasuke always tuned them out for the most part. Apparently Naruto had been so caught up in chattering that he hadn't realized he had stepped on the hem of his pants (considering they were rather _long _on his short legs) until he was falling and falling and…

_Thud._

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder, staring unblinkingly at his student who had fallen unceremoniously face-first into the ground, butt still in the air and all. He sighed, muttering "usuratonkachi" beneath his breath and crouched down, arms resting on his knees.

Naruto lifted his head up, eyes closed before squinting at the figure in front of him. He lifted his head up further in order to squint at the blank-faced Sasuke who was staring down at him. Naruto made a face at him.

"Whatcha starin' at?!"

"…" Sasuke reached out a hand and suddenly flicked him on the forehead. "…Dobe. Stop falling all over the place."

With that said, the raven-haired man stood up and turned around, continuing his walk to the teacher's lounge. Naruto scowled, a hand rubbing where Sasuke had flicked him. A huffed "teme" came from the irked boy before he jumped back to his feet and stomped after the older man, playing off his embarrassment.

Naruto had always heard rumors that the teacher's lounge was the most luxurious part of the building – with lush carpeting and fancy couches, and its own buffet and chefs for when the teacher's came to eat lunch. Of course Naruto knew that to be false. What kind of teacher's lounge had all of _that _stuff? Teacher's lounges were the most _boring-est _part of school buildings, with a refrigerator, a barely-working microwave, a few tables and chairs, and maybe a sink if they were lucky…

So it was only natural when Naruto stepped into the teacher's lounge and found the rumors to be _true, _that he gaped open-mouthed at the exquisite lounging area of the teachers-only room.

"The ­_hell?_" He said out loud, impressed and shocked.

The others weren't going to _believe _this!

"If you think this is nice, you should see the principal's office," Sasuke muttered, filling the cups up with water before warming them up in the microwave.

His temple twitched as he thought about the principal.

Honestly, that man… he was far too _indulging._

"_Can _we see the principal's office?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"No," Sasuke said simply.

Naruto's shoulders sagged with disappointment. "Aww man, you suck."

"I'm sure you'll see it eventually," Sasuke said, pulling out the instant ramen when they were done heating up.

It took Naruto a while to realize what Sasuke was implying. He was going to make a retort when his noodles were shoved in his face, and his nostrils inhaled the heavenly aroma of ramen. His mouth watered and he took his food, gladly accepting the chopsticks offered to him as well. They made their way back to the classroom and resumed the tutoring, although not much had gotten done amongst the slurping and Naruto splattering droplets of hot water on Sasuke, who scowled at him.

But all in all, even though Naruto had tried to take some of his noodles when he was finished with his own, Sasuke had to admit, the blonde was amusing to be around.

* * *

"No way!"

"Hell yeah! Zaraki would totally pwn Byakuya any day!"

"Whatever! Byakuya is _way _cooler!"

"What! Zaraki totally kicks ass."

"…No."

Kiba and Naruto rounded on Sai, who was smiling pleasantly.

"Gin is the coolest by far."

"Who asked for your opinion!?" Kiba retorted.

Naruto made a face. "You're just saying that because you both have the same creepy smile…"

Sai tilted his head innocently. "What creepy smile?"

_Smile._

"Gah! You're making that creepy smile again!"

"If you idiots are _done, _get back to the drill," Sasuke interrupted, eyeing all three of them darkly. "If I catch you standing around again, I'll make you run eighty laps around the block!"

"Hai, hai, sensei," they all grumbled. Kiba went back to sparring with Sai, and Naruto returned his attention to Shikamaru, who was looking completely bored and uninterested in what was going on around him.

"Okay Shika! Give me your best shot!"

"Yare, yare…" The pineapple-haired boy rolled his shoulders and sighed before slipping smoothly (and lazily) into an offensive position, Naruto taking defense. Shikamaru honestly hadn't wanted to come to class that night, feeling he would be more productive watching the clouds on some grassy field or something. But no. His mom had kicked his ass out of the house and told him to get to class or she'd tan his hide. _Women, _he thought as he charged at Naruto, _are troublesome._

And of course his _father _wasn't much help. He always talked the talk, but when it actually came to talking back to his wife, he never did. He was far too compliant. Shikamaru's mother had his father whipped and the man didn't even notice!

Pathetic.

The two fighters collided, Naruto doing a series of backhand flips in order to avoid a few punches and kicks Shikamaru was sending his way. He landed in a crouch at the edge of the blue matt before sweeping his leg in an arc. Shikamaru leaped into the air and kicked his leg out, though Naruto intercepted and blocked it with an arm. He grabbed the lazy boy's leg and flipped him around in mid-air, throwing him down on the mat. Shikamaru rolled out of the way and back to his feet where the two resumed exchanging blocks and hits.

Sasuke eventually signaled a partner switch. Everyone rotated and Naruto was paired up with Gaara. When Sasuke signaled everyone to start fighting again, the two were instantly locked in a battle. It wasn't until Naruto became frustrated that he suddenly head-butted Gaara, tackling him to the ground. A low move, he knew, but Naruto was feeling playful as he grinned and stuck his tongue down at the disgruntled looking redhead. His world tipped over when Gaara had suddenly flipped them over and switched their positions. Naruto couldn't help but grin at the triumphant and playful look that was glinting in the normally blank jade eyes.

Sasuke gave the signal again and Gaara had to raise an arm in order to block a kick that was sent at his head. He was off of Naruto and fighting Kiba in the next instant. Naruto watched them both for a moment before standing up and facing his next opponent: Tenten.

"Alright! Let's do this! Datte –"

He was cut off when Kiba stumbled into him.

"Hey!"

Kiba growled beneath his breath and lunged at Gaara.

"God. A _sorry _would be nice," Naruto grumbled indignantly. Tenten shook her head, wondering how Naruto could be so oblivious to the competitive atmosphere that had engulfed Kiba and Gaara.

Kiba, she could understand.

But it was both amusing and frightening to see Gaara fighting for something.

Or well, _someone._

She smiled at the naïve blonde before getting into a fighting position and making a gesture. "Ready, Naruto?"

"Haaai!" He chirped.

* * *

Sasuke stared at his phone, willing it to burst into flames.

He gave it his most menacing glare.

The phone didn't budge.

His brow twitched.

It still didn't budge.

He had the sudden impulse to fling it on the wall, knowing he would derive some satisfaction in seeing it be smashed to pieces while falling to the ground.

But he didn't. He resisted such childish impulses, knowing it wouldn't do him any good to go breaking the phone. But then again, it wasn't as if he ever _used _it. If anything, it gave him much suffering and antagonized him due to all the constant messages he would receive, and the annoying sound it would emit whenever someone would call.

He never used the house phone. He used his cell phone to make any necessary calls.

And even then that was rare.

And just as he was about ready to fry his phone on the stove, the fangirling messages finally came to an end, but the next message raised the hackles on the back of his neck.

"_Hello my dear, foolish little brother…I will be arriving in Konoha this weekend. I hear there is a carnival at your school. Surely we shall go to it? You, Kisame and I. It is all I ask for my birthday…"_

He hissed and turned the answering machine off.

_Damn _it.

_Someone _was receiving much amusement from _his _suffering otherwise his older brother wouldn't bother him so much, _and _wouldn't be coming over for his birthday.

And screw the frying and the smashing, Sasuke wanted to blow his phone up – his brother with it.

Sasuke sighed and slumped on the couch, draping an arm across his eyes.

He was glad Itachi and Kisame wouldn't be staying _with _him in his apartment, otherwise all Hell would break loose.

At least there was some mercy in this world…

* * *

o-kaaaay. Short chapter. Or at least, shorter than the previous ones really. Sorry. I just wanted to update reallyreally badly. 

AND MAN. Naruto manga chapter 371 is evi. _**Evil!!**_

And anyway, thanks everyone for all of the AWESOME reviews. I was thrown away by it all. –starry eyed-

I hope you can forgive me for the long wait and the short chapter. –bowbowbow-

_--FT_


	11. round and round the rollercoasters go

**BEWARE: Chapter is completely unedited. xD AND HAPPY BELATED HALLOWEEN... and happy belated birthday my darling naru-chan ; ; **

It was pointed out to me that I changed Itachi's birthday… xD Considering I didn't bother doing research for his birthday, let's just say for the purpose of this fic that I _did_change his birthday. Kukukuku.

* * *

It was Friday. School was over. The sun was clear, but a cool, almost chilling breeze was swirling around in the air, catching locks of red and making them stand on end as they were caught with the flow of the wind. Fingers clutched the chains of the fence, the other hand tucked into his pockets as stony jade eyes stared past the chains and out at nothing in particular.

The wind ruffled Gaara's clothes, but he ignored the cool whispers as he closed his eyes.

It was going to rain tonight.

---

**chapter eleven.**

**---  
**

Sasuke heaved a heavy sigh.

He seemed to be doing that a lot today: sighing.

Was it his fault? No. It wasn't. It was his wretched brother's fault, and his freak-friend Kisame. Sasuke had been hoping to put off having to see either of them for a while longer, but he couldn't anymore. He had already told them he _refused_to pick them up from the airport in hopes it would deter their plans. Itachi started to contemplate not going there until Kisame had to open his big fat fu—in' mouth and suggest the _taxi._

Good_god,_did that man not _know_when to keep his trap shut?

And so, just _knowing_that Itachi and Kisame were in Konoha caused Sasuke's foul mood. He was a prideful man, but whenever it came to his older brother, he found himself scowling and sulking around more often than naught.

Again, it was all Itachi's fault.

He was infamous for making _grown men _cry.

But Sasuke wasn't going to cry. No. He was better than that.

He was just going to sulk around is all.

Nothing wrong with a little – _healthy -- _sulking.

Sasuke brought his mulling outside where it was sunny and partly cloudy, a cool breeze adding to the final touch… at least, that's what the radio said when he listened to it earlier, and indeed it was sunny and partly cloudy. The radio also said a slight chance of rain. He hoped it would rain. At least then it would match his mood. And anyway, Sasuke wasn't a sunshine-kinda-guy. He was white as rice, and that said it all.

Okay maybe not _white as rice, _but he was close to it with his pale complexion and what-have-you.

Sasuke was rather _sensitive_about his skin color. As he liked to tell people: he had _ivory_skin, not _white_skin. Right. Next thing you know ghosts are going to insist they're not_transparently white, _but_transparently ivory… _Moooving right along:

Anyway, contemplating the destruction of the little voice in his head, a.k.a. the narrator (not that he _knows_it's me or anything), Sasuke continued (sulking) walking through the city. He decided he felt like Chinese food, so he was going to get himself some pot stickers, some fried shrimp, maybe some egg rolls, and definitely some white rice (not because his skin _looked_like it or anything), mandarin chicken, and pork BBQ. And contrary to popular belief that Sasuke ate like a horse and had oh-my-god-super-fast-metabolism, when all is said and done, and food is devoured… Sasuke, like any normal human being, gains weight, and_has to work it off. _Gasp, I know.

But being the fit man that he is and constantly pushing himself to keep in shape, of course he burns off the excess weight quickly. Not to mention he's a martial artist and teaches classes. He's as fit as a horse!

Alright. Getting away from the horse-metaphor now.

Sasuke returned home an hour later, after getting himself some Chinese food and eating –a long with the occasional dodge-the-fangirls that he was becoming quite good at. He didn't finish _all_of his food because apparently his eyes were bigger than his stomach, so he packed everything in a container and carried it home in a plastic bag. As he ascended the stairs he searched in his pockets for his keys, dangling them in his hand when he found it. The keys rattled and jingled as he picked out the apartment key.

He twisted the knob out of habit, and was about to insert the key into the lock when the door opened. Sasuke blinked before narrowing his eyes, a foreboding feeling falling upon him. He opened the door cautiously, eyes narrowing even more when he saw the apartment lights were on, and there were _voices_speaking from his kitchen. Sasuke slipped into his apartment, maneuvering swiftly to the kitchen opening. That foreboding feeling he felt when he first opened his door was creeping ever so stronger the closer he got to the kitchen.

The voices were becoming louder, clearer…

Familiar…

"Aah, hello, little brother."

"…"

Sasuke twitched as he realized it was his brother and his freak-friend sitting at _his_kitchen table, in _his_apartment, drinking _his_tea, from _his_tea cups…

"Well if it isn't the gaki," said freak-friend piped up, grinning wickedly up at the ever irritable Sasuke.

"Damn you both," Sasuke glowered, cursing the day Uchiha Itachi had managed to get a copy of his apartment key.

He made a mental note to change the locks.

* * *

"Carnival! Carnival! Carnival!"

"Geez, Naruto, calm down…"

"Naahh!" Naruto stuck his tongue out at Kiba, who flashed him a wolfish grin.

"Watch that tongue of yours or I might bite it," he leered.

Naruto's tongue instantly went back in his mouth and he glared at his friend, blushing. "Pervert!"

Naruto had met up with Gaara, Kiba and Sai at the school and they were heading around to the back where the carnival was. Everything was finished being set up during the week and that Saturday was the first day it was opened to everyone. Naruto was trying very hard not to go sprinting ahead of the others and Kiba had made a joke saying they should have put a leash on Naruto. The blonde huffed indignantly, but Gaara kept a restraining hand on Naruto's shoulder to keep him from running off, which was pretty much _like_a leash, Kiba had said.

"Uwaaaah!" Naruto shamelessly gushed when the carnival came into view.

Naruto going to a carnival was like a kid about to be given a lifetime supply of sugary sweets, a very dangerous thing indeed. The others didn't know that and had no clue as to what they were getting themselves into the moment they bought some tickets that would last them a few rides and games. It was like a switch programmed into Naruto was turned on – or off, depending on your perspective – and whatever gears in the blonde started to work – or stop, once again, depending on your perspective.

Needless to say, Naruto's friends were finding it difficult to keep up with the fast pacing of the exuberant boy. One moment he was cooing over a prize, the next he was shooting water guns at another booth with the prize he had been previously cooing over. _When_he had won that teddy bear, none of them knew. They just blinked, and in a matter of milliseconds, he had won it and went on to the next game.

"He's not normal," Kiba muttered.

Gaara grunted his agreement.

Perhaps it was a bad idea he had tagged along at all…

Sai, on the other hand, was very much enjoying himself – delighting in the pleasured ways Naruto treated him whenever he would give the smaller boy some cotton candy, a corn dog, a fountain drink, a chocolate candy bar…

Kiba's expression darkened. "He's adding fuel to the fire."

Gaara grunted in agreement, his expression just as dark and foreboding.

Was it just them or was Sai on _purposely_feeding the already sugar-rushed boy even _more_sugar?

"And_why_are you encouraging his hyperactive-state?" Kiba asked dryly, a vein twitching in his temple.

"Food is the way to a guy's heart," Sai said matter-of-factly.

And the way to a guy's heart was the way to a guy's pants! Thus, food was the best method into a guy's pants. It was perfectly logical.

Kiba, sensing _other_motives from Sai, growled and glared at him, shaking a fist and all, the dog at his side barking along. Oh right, Gaara had forgotten they brought the _mutt_along.

What was his name again?

Aka?

Aki?

Akimaru?

Akumaru?

…Whatever.

The redhead sighed to himself as he looked up at the sky, the wind playing with his hair.

…Why did he agree to come again? His siblings would probably die laughing – literally – if they saw him there at a carnival of all places. Carnivals were fun places, meant to _have_fun. In order to have fun, you have to be happy. Gaara wasn't a very happy person, now was he? I didn't think so either.

The next thing they – Sai, Kiba and Gaara (no pets allowed on rides!) – knew was that they were being dragged on a roller coaster. Gaara remained impassive. Sai remained smiling. Kiba started to freak out and Naruto laughed and cheered excitedly the higher and higher they climbed…

…_VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM._

And down they plummeted and Kiba swore he lost his voice in one scream.

Naruto made fun of the dog-lover after that, and it was hard for the brunette to retort anything for his voice had all but gone dry and hoarse.

"NARUTO-KUN!"

"Oh god," Kiba croaked/groaned.

"You really shouldn't speak," Sai advised. "You sound much worse than a toad."

Kiba glared venomously, looking ready to strangle Sai when Rock Lee came in all his green-glaring glory.

"Naruto-kun! Let us venture the challenging, dangerous, adrenaline twists and turns and rush of the RAGING INFERNO 3000!"

Naruto's eyes went impossibly wide. "But Lee! Haven't you heard…!?"

…The carnival's only open for a day, and already there's rumors about the rides… Go figure.

"Heard what?" Lee asked, turning just-as-wide eyes to his companion.

Naruto looked around shifty eyed before gesturing Lee closer. The bowl-shaped haired boy obliged and Naruto lowered his voice in a conspiratorial whisper: "I hear it's so fast that… it takes you to a different _dimension!"_

Instead of putting Lee off, hearing that only made the boy more determined to 'overcome the RAGING INFERNO 3000!' He stated so by striking the GOOD-GUY POSE (all copyrights reserved to Gai). "It's just another challenge that we must overcome and face to become stronger and better than our rivals!"

Naruto paused and thought of his own rival – that cocky teacher of his, Uchiha Sasuke – and furrowed his brows determinedly. "O.K.! Let's go ride the RAGING INFERNO 3000, DATTEBAYO!"

* * *

A certain Hyuuga Neji sneezed and politely thanked his cousin, Hinata, when she blessed him.

"Someone must be talking about you," his uncle, Hiashi, said as he sparred with his nephew.

Neji snorted. Why would anyone want to talk about him?

* * *

"..._Aa --!"_

"Bless you."

"--…!!"

"…what."

"…you ruined my sneeze."

"Kukuku… It's what I do best."

Ruin his _life_is what he did best, more like it. It's what they _both_did best, Sasuke thought sourly as he glared at his older brother's freak-friend, Hoshigake Kisame. Apparently Kisame's mother – whoever she may be – had given birth to a heavily-defected child that she, or the father, who knows, decided to name _Kisame._Sometimes, particularly during breezy, cool days, Kisame's skin looked almost_blue,_and his eyes were small and his teeth looked freakishly _sharp…_And he had dyed his hair blue, too, though Kisame claims to have been born with it. Right.

Sasuke could not, for the life of him, understand why a lot of Itachi's friends were all freaks, Kisame being an example – and just the tip of the ice burg of _how freaky _Itachi's list of friends _were._

Like that one Zetsu guy…

But Sasuke didn't want to go _there_with_that_guy's issues.

Instead, the youngest Uchiha mulled over his current predicament: guiding Kisame and his older brother, Itachi, around some blasted school carnival that they had wanted to go to. Did Sasuke see them riding any rides? _No._So what was the whole point of this again…?

"So what's the whole point of this again?" Sasuke asked, clearly irritated.

"To spend time with your aniki," Itachi reminded, using that _voice_that made Sasuke feel like he was a little child, being patted on the head by his brother. He didn't know what was worse – feeling like that was the case, or actually being _patted_on the head by Itachi.

"Hm…" Itachi hummed, looking around with as much curiosity as Uchiha Itachi could appear. "To… have fun."

Sasuke glanced at his brother from the corner of his eye.

Kisame snickered, his snickering coming out rough and jagged.

A balloon fluttered by them and Itachi intercepted it smoothly just as a little child ran up to them, obviously having been chasing after his balloon. He lifted his head back to gaze up Itachi's tall, looming figure. Poor kid. Itachi was probably scary-looking to him… not that Sasuke could blame the twerp.

Itachi handed the boy his red balloon back and the child beamed brightly.

"Arigatou!!"

And he bowed before running back to his mother, gleefully showing off his balloon that the tall, mysterious stranger had saved. The mother looked over at said 'tall, mysterious stranger' and hearts practically burst from her eyes as she took sight of the handsome figure of this 'tall, mysterious stranger.' Sasuke rolled his eyes. Sure, women frolicked after him, but all of them would quickly fall in love with Itachi the moment they laid eyes on him – not that Sasuke cared. He preferred it that way, actually. It drew attention away from himself.

But then Sasuke couldn't understand why little kids ran away from him, and yet gladly accepted Itachi as 'totally not scary but cool!' He really did not understand children and their minds…

What was so great about Itachi anyway?

Sasuke's brow twitched as he realized he was starting to sound like an idiot, even to himself, and he quickly stopped _thinking_about his irritating older brother. He had more important things to think about, like…

Like…

…

…Oh who was he kidding?

Sasuke sighed, ignoring the sounds of a dog barking as they walked by some ride – what's it called… the FLAMING VORTEX 2050? No that didn't sound right… the BURNING FLAMES 6000? No, still not right… The BLAZING INFERNO 3600?

"…RAGING INFERNO 3000, DATTEBAYO!"

Yeah! That was it! The RAGING INFERNO 3000. Sasuke had heard that it was so fast, that you traveled to another dimension. It's said that you travel almost 200 feet high before dropping for a good 150 feet and then looping through turns and spirals at a speed of almost eighty miles per hour before…

_BAM._

Stars exploded in Sasuke's vision when he felt something – or was it someone? – bump into him, and hard.

"Gaah! Watch it!"

Was it him or did that voice sound obnoxiously familiar…?

"…Kyaah! Uchiha-teme! What are you doing here?!"

Oh god it _was_familiar. Groaning and picking himself up, Sasuke gathered himself an fixed his mussed pants before glaring at the one and only Uzumaki Naruto – the other source of his irritation ever since he started giving detention to the boy. Tutoring him wasn't _that_bad… when he wasn't being obnoxious, anyway.

"Is there a reason I _shouldn't_be here, dobe?" Sasuke asked irritably.

Was it him or was his day getting worse by the minute?

"Etooo…" Naruto tapped his chin before tapping his balled hand on to the palm of his other one. "I just didn't know you actually liked to have fun! You know, having a stick up your ass and all…"

Sasuke twitched. Seeing as how they weren't in school, Naruto was being much too bold for Sasuke's liking.

"Watch what you say, or you fail the upcoming test."

"NANI?! You can't do that!!"

The youngest Uchiha sent Naruto a particularly _evil_look that drove away all of Naruto's doubts. "I can, and I will."

"Okay, okay! Argh… jerk."

"Who's the shrimp?"

"…"

"This is one of my students, Uzumaki Naruto…" Sasuke trailed off with a sigh, before noticing the evil, dangerous aura that was suddenly radiating from said shrimp.

"Don't. Call. Me. THAT!" Naruto roared.

Karateeee…KICK OF VENGEANCE!

And Kisame went flying off, becoming naught but a twinkle in the sky.

Itachi observed on, looking clearly amused by the displays and antics taking place before him. Naruto noticed the other man for the first time and looked curiously between Sasuke and Itachi. "Oi. You two look like each other."

Kiba smacked a palm to his forehead. "Well no _shit,_Naruto. They're brothers. Anyone with eye sight can see that!"

Akamaru yipped (in agreement).

"Shut up dog-breath! I wasn't talking to you!"

Itachi turned to address his brother. "It's rude of you not to introduce me to your little friends."

Sasuke bit out through gritted teeth: "They're my students, not my friends."

"Hmm," Itachi hummed before turning to his brother's students. "I am Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother."

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Inuzuka Kiba."

"ROCK LEEEEE!"

"…" (Gaara)

"…I am Sai."

"This is Gaara…" Naruto said, gesturing at the silent redhead. "He's a bit… shy."

Kiba scoffed.

Gaara glared at the blonde. SHY? SABAKU NO GAARA SHY? HE THINKS NOT!

…So maybe he was… Just a teensy bit – a little part deep, deep inside of him…

Right.

"Oi, oi, Uchiha-san!" Naruto chirped. "I've never seen you before! Are you a teacher like your baka-brother?"

Itachi chuckled, clearly amused by the smaller one. "No. I own a company."

"Sugoi!" Naruto gushed, looking clearly impressed. "That's so much cooler than teaching!"

Sasuke took his turn to glare at Naruto. What was he trying to imply… that his brother was cooler than him?!

"So why are you here then?"

"I'm visiting my little brother, for my birthday."

"Sou ka! Happy birthday! Wanna ride RAGING INFERNO 3000 with me and Lee?"

"That's quite alright. I'm afraid I'm a bit rusty when it comes to roller coasters…"

"Saa…" Naruto puffed. "You're never too rusty to ride roller coasters! I bet even Uchiha-teme can ride it!"

"…What's that supposed to mean?" Sasuke asked offensively.

Naruto looked at him blankly.

Sasuke glared.

"I can ride roller coasters!"

"…Uh-huh."

"Seriously!!"

"Sure you can."

"I can!!"

"You keep telling yourself that…"

And they glared at each other for a few, tense moments before the two suddenly darted towards RAGING INFERNO 3000, both racing to see who could get in line first. Lee chased after them happily, glad to see such YOUTH having so much fun together in a moment of true joy! Kiba let out an exasperated groan, really not up for going after them considering the last roller coaster they went on… He turned green at the memory and quickly dashed to the nearest waste bin. Sai wandered after Sasuke, Naruto and Lee, leaving Gaara and Itachi to stand side-by-side, feet apart, gazing up at the RAGING INFERNO 3000.

"…"

"…"

Gaara glanced at his wrist watch and walked away.

Kisame eventually rejoined Itachi, muttering obscenities about 'little brats' and their 'freakin'-strong-as-hell kicks.' He rubbed his aching back before standing next to his companion, giving his attention to the roller coaster that Naruto, Sasuke, Lee and Sai were currently on.

"…for a shrimp, he's pretty damn strong," Kisame grumbled.

A faint smirk crossed Itachi's normally passive expression.

* * *

"…What do you mean 'Naruto's gone'?" Gaara deadpanned.

Only he could turn a question into a statement like that.

Kiba groaned. "It's exactly what I mean! I went with him to go to the bathroom… and then all of a sudden… he's just gone! Oh man… Iruka-sensei's going to _kill_me."

And quite literally, too. After Iruka had dropped Naruto off at school, Kiba could clearly remember the warnings Iruka had given him:

"_Make sure Naruto doesn't eat too many sweets otherwise he'll become hyperactive. And make sure after every time he eats that he does not get on a ride. He should wait to have his stomach settled before he gets on a ride. And never: I repeat NEVER… let him out of your sight…" Iruka was looming over Kiba as he said this – something which seemed physically impossible due to the fact that Kiba was taller than Iruka, but the older man managed to look both killer-intimidating and taller. "…And get him home on time."_

_Iruka flashed Kiba a sweet smile._

That sweet smile sent foreboding shivers up and down his spine. Not only did they lose Naruto, but they broke every single one of the rules that Iruka had set for them!

"Set for _you_," Sai pointed out, as if reading his mind. He had been in hearing range when Iruka lectured Kiba.

Kiba sent him a dirty glare. Asshole.

"Well whatever," the Inuzuka scowled, looking around. "He shouldn't be too hard to find. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. Wears orange… he'll easily stick out in the crowd. Not to mention he's loud."

There was a pause as the group looked around in hopes of catching an orange-clad, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, loud, obnoxious young boy, but everywhere they looked they heard voices and the carnival music playing in the background. But there was no orange-clad, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, loud and obnoxious young boy roaming about that they couldn't see in range. It was particularly frustrating and nerve-wrecking for Kiba since he was the only one left with a talkative-streak. At least with Naruto around there was someone who'd be more willing to chat the ears off of anyone and everyone – but then again, there was Lee, but Lee wasn't someone _anyone_wanted to hear talking… hence why he was currently bound and gagged.

Why did Naruto have to abandon him so?!

Kiba sulked as he pet Akamaru forlornly. It was too bad no one could just_hunt_the idiot down –

"…!! Akamaru!"

The white-furred dog looked up at his owner with a curious tilt of his head.

"You're a dog!"

"…"

"…obviously," Sasuke drawled out, wishing he hadn't gotten sucked into this little drama. If only he had escaped a little bit sooner, then he wouldn't have been dragged into helping look for the dobe. The only thing that made him stay was the lingering threat from Kiba that he would tell Iruka-sensei that, after they lost Naruto, Sasuke didn't help to look for said boy. _No one _wanted to face Iruka's wrath if they had a will to live.

"No, no – I mean, I _know_Akamaru's a dog!" Kiba defended himself agitatedly. "Akamaru can sniff out Naruto!"

Everyone stared at the dog, Kisame voicing everyone's question:

"…Is it smart enough to do that?"

"Of course!" Kiba looked offended. "Akamaru's an intelligent dog!"

Akamaru barked in his defense.

"Well that's good to know. We'll be off then," Sasuke said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked away. Kiba looked indignant, watching as Itachi and Kisame followed after, Kisame waving and departing with a: "Catch you brats later!"

"They're all bastards, the lot of them," the dog-lover grumbled. He searched himself to see if he had any of Naruto's possessions so Akamaru could get a waft of Naruto's scent and sniff him out. But a possession of Naruto's was what Kiba lacked, thus putting his idea down the drain. He sighed, defeated. "Well there goes that bright idea…"

"Splitting up is our only option," Sai pointed out pleasantly.

Kiba snorted. "Fine by me."

Gaara, who had been quiet up until then, watched as Sai and Kiba went off in opposite directions, both obviously intent on finding the blonde before the other. The redhead sighed and rolled his eyes up heavenward, wondering for the countless time _why_he was there in the first place. He proceeded in another direction.

Lee remained, bound and gagged, tears streaming from his eyes as his muffled cries went unheard.

* * *

Naruto hadn't _meant_to get himself lost – he really didn't. Was it his fault that he saw a little kid with a _really cool _lion-shaped balloon figure and wanted one for himself? No, it wasn't. So what if he had trailed after the kid with obvious envy and awe before said kid got freaked out, kicked him in the shin, and ran back to his mother? Naruto howled obscenities about the pipsqueak and it wasn't until he composed himself that he realized he was _lost,_or well, had lost the others.

Naruto pondered over that fact for a moment before shrugging it off and went in search for whoever made those cool balloon figures. Kiba had his cell phone number so he could always call Naruto to find out where he was.

Linking his hands behind his head, the orange-clad youth continued his search. He came upon people handing out balloons, someone walking with what appeared to be two long wooden poles, a few clowns, a lone clown riding around on a unicycle and honking a red horn, and people walking around in cartoon-character costumes. Naruto had stopped in order to peer curiously at a group of kids playing with their game boys, connected by wires. He got dragged into playing with them where he then proceeded to lose to a bunch of six-year olds.

Naruto sighed and gazed forlornly into his empty Gama-chan. His frog wallet was one of his most prized possessions that he had dubbed _Gama-chan._Gama-chan was usually fat and full, but after losing to those brats, he had to cough out his change and buy them all ice cream. Those conniving, manipulative little demon-spawns…

Twitching, Naruto huffed and put his Gama-chan back into his pocket. As soon as he wandered away from the kids, Naruto spotted the balloon-maker and rushed over, clearly excited.

"Ano sa, ano sa, ji-san! Can you make me one?" Naruto asked, practically beaming with uncontained excitement.

The man chuckled. "Sure, kid. What's it gonna be?"

"Eto…" The blond looked thoughtful as he tapped his chin before a light bulb clicked on in his head. "A fox!"

"A fox, eh?" The man mused, looking through the colored balloons he had. He plucked out several red ones. "It's gonna cost you money. You got money?"

"…Money?" Naruto pulled out his Gama-chan and looked through it, his forlorn feelings returning full force. He hung his head, sighing. "…No."

"Sorry then, kid. No money, no fox."

_Damn_those demons! Naruto sulked away, shoulders sagged and head still hanging low. Not only did he lose to a bunch of kids, but he couldn't even get himself a balloon, and not to mention he had left all of his game prizes back at the RAGING INFERNO 3000. Hopefully Lee was watching them…

Speaking of Lee and the others, no one had called asking where he was. Did they not want to hang out with him? Were they secretly rejoicing in his disappearance? …Nah, Kiba and the others weren't like that! They were probably looking for him right this instant! And so, turning around, Naruto started to head back in the direction the RAGING INFERNO 3000 was, hoping the others were still there. He was about to pull out his cell phone and call Kiba when he saw a woman being chased to the back of a few game booths, a group of men coming after her.

Apparently no one else noticed except for him, and looking outraged and feeling positively heroic and brave, Naruto jogged in their direction – slipping through the gap between two game booths and sneaking towards the back. It was empty on the other side since it was near a fence, and no one walked through there but on the main carnival grounds. He could hear voices as the men cornered their prey. Naruto peeked his head around and saw the woman was trying to put up a fight, swinging her purse around and landing a good kick on a man's family jewels.

There was some curses as the men started to overpower her, and Naruto felt he couldn't wait any longer. He jumped out and knocked the men away from her, causing confusion to erupt amongst the renegade guys.

"Leave her alone!" Naruto growled defensively, taking a protective stance in front of the startled woman. She looked relieved to see someone had come to save her, but her relief was short lived when she saw the young boy that came to save her. What was a skinny little boy going to do against a group of bigger guys?! Oh well. It was the thought that counted, she supposed…

"What the hell?!"

"Who are you?"

"Man! You little shrimp! You needa mind yer own business!"

"We're gonna kick your ass!"

"…hey, doesn't he look like the kid that was with Gaara that one night…?"

Silence.

Naruto tilted his head in confusion. Gaara? One night? What night? What were they talking about?

The group of guys mulled over the memory of getting their asses kicked by said redhead.

Oh well. He wasn't there, so what was the blondie going to do against them?

"…Well what are we waiting for then?!"

"Get 'im!"

"Hey, hey! Is this really necessary?!" Naruto asked panicky, dodging several kicks and punches as he slipped and stumbled through them, narrowly avoiding getting hit. For some reason he was sensing a lot more hostility than was originally sent his way. Did he know these guys? Because they were sure acting like they've met him before! The only group of guys Naruto could recall was the group that Gaara had beaten up, but they couldn't be _them…_could it? They seemed bigger at the park when it was nighttime.

Not really paying attention, Naruto tripped over something and stumbled forward, falling face-first to the ground with an "Itai!" Someone maneuvered over him and kept him pinned down to the ground, an elbow and arm pressed firmly into the back of his neck while the guy's other arm kept Naruto's hands pinned down, the weight of his body pressuring Naruto's own and preventing him from getting up. The blonde struggled, embarrassed at his sudden predicament.

"Oi! Get off me!"

"Tch. Idiot. Getting yourself caught in the first place," the bigger guy mocked, grinning viciously down at his captor. Blue eyes glared up at him.

"I said get off me!"

"Oh, I'll get _you_off, alright," he assured, practically leering at him. "And then we're gonna kick your ass!"

Naruto growled and opened his mouth to retort something, when another intruder beat him to the punch:

"…Oi. What do you guys think you're doing?"

* * *

**To be continued…**

And Naruto's savior is…?!

…You'll see next chapter. xD And thanks dudes so much for all the omgawesome reviews. And yes, Itachi and Kisame are finally in it, and will (maybe) have more scenes in the next chapter(s). As for more development in the SasuNaru relationship… it's coming… extremely soon. Kukuku.

And due to the fact that I hate delaying on updates, chapters might not be extremely long, or that long anymore. I'll try updating as frequently as I can for you guys, because you all deserve that for what awesome readers/reviewers you all are, so I hope you all continue to have patience to stick with this story! And if you're all interested, I started a new SasuNaru (+ GaaSaku) fic called **For my pride and your promise**. The plot and ideas I have are proving promising, and I'm loving the direction I'm going to go with it. I'm actually quite inspired for that fic, and have a few things written that I'm keeping hidden. And I plan on updating _that_as frequently as possible as well. So if you guys are bored, go ahead and check it out, ya?!

So continue to leave reviews and please do continue to inspire me with your awesomeness… and save me from work and maybe updates will come much sooner –waves white flag that says "SAVE ME"-

_--FT-sama_


	12. raindrops keep falling from the sky

**Please note: **I haven't exactly gone through and edited the chapters yet, but Yaoi High takes place in modern day Naruto-verse, not modern day Japan. I decided that was a better approach, but have yet to go make any corrections to previous chapters. I will soon.

**Welcome to yaoi high  
12. **raindrops keep falling from the sky  
track // r a i n d r o p s // _stunt_

"Oi. What do you guys think you're doing?"

The words just slipped out of his mouth, really, they did. Otherwise he would have just walked away because at the moment, Sasuke didn't_ feel_ like saving an idiot blond who seemed to have a knack for running into trouble in the most unlikely of places. Keeping his mouth shut and leaving would have been the _wise_choice but it was too late for that because he had already opened his mouth. All eyes swiveled in the raven haired man's direction and Naruto almost blanched at the least intimidating image his teacher made standing there with _pink cotton candy _in his hand.

_Pink _of all things. What the hell?! Did he think he'd be of any help with pink bloody cotton candy? Naruto didn't think so either.

"Who's the idiot?"

"Friend of the other idiot's, maybe?"

Sasuke stared blankly.

"Well guess we'll have to deal with him too, then."

Some of the men made a move to advance, and Sasuke sighed as he realized he was going to have to kick some ass today. He tossed aside his cotton candy – _Itachi's going to have to get his _own_ damn pink cotton candy – _and unbuttoned the cuffs of his sleeve before rolling them up to his elbows. He had discarded his jacket as well, not wanting it to get caught in the fray and hinder his movements. Several of the men were bigger than him, but to Sasuke's well trained eye, they looked more brawns than brains, and most of them just _looked _big. He could tell who was strong and who wasn't, and even those who packed a powerful punch wouldn't be able to keep up with his speed. Perhaps he was cocky for his thoughts but they were facts, and Sasuke was merely going over the facts in his head.

He slid down into a defensive position looking calm and lax for someone about to engage in combat.

"Don't forget about me you bastards!" Naruto practically glowered lividly as he bucked the man off of him and kicked his leg up, smacking the heel of his shoe beneath the offender's chin and sending him flying back with a curse. Sasuke was promptly forgotten as everyone charged at the blond instead and the Uchiha watched with mild amusement as the pipsqueak maneuvered around the brutes with wild and quick movements. Everything about Uzumaki Naruto's fighting technique was wild and fierce; as wild and bold as his personality was. He incorporated his personality traits into his fighting and it suited the boy. It was almost hard to believe such power lived in the scrawny idiot's body. He was flexible and sharp, albeit clumsy as Sasuke's brow twitched when Naruto tripped over someone's shoe.

And perhaps Naruto had dumb luck, too, because just as he tripped, a punch was aimed where his head once was, and it was only because he tripped that he was able to avoid such a punch. For a while it seemed like Naruto was merely _playing_ with the men as he laughed and taunted them; leaping over their heads and shoulders as some of the thugs crashed head-first into a comrade. Their mounting irritation was more than evident while they tried to grab the slippery and dodgy Naruto, only to fail as he constantly slipped from their grasps. It was also amusing to watch Naruto actually land a punch or a kick. From where Sasuke stood, he could see the pain flash clearly on their faces whenever Naruto managed to connect a hit with a part of someone's body and send them crumbled unconscious to the ground.

As soon as the fight started, it ended with Naruto knocking the last man unconscious. After all of that, rather than being out of breath, Naruto turned to Sasuke and flashed him a brilliant grin and looked like he had just got done taking a stroll through the park. Sasuke crouched down to pick up his discarded jacket when the boy started to talk.

"Well that was fun! You know, for someone who was gonna save me, you really suck at that."

The rescued lady looked relieved and turned to her savior(s). She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted.

"You seemed fine to me," Sasuke pointed out with a bored drawl. He slung his jacket over his shoulder in a casual gesture.

"Hey –" she tried to speak again to tell them her thanks.

Naruto rolled his eyes before admitting sheepishly, "I didn't want you to have all the fun… and I ended up getting a bit out of hand."

"_Hey,"_she tried again, brow twitching.

"A bit," Sasuke repeated sarcastically.

"Forget it!" She threw her hands up in exasperation and stormed off. It wasn't as if they noticed anyway.

Naruto made a face. "You didn't have to stand there, you know! You _could_ have helped."

"I could have, yes."

"And you didn't."

"No, I did not."

"And why was that, sensei?"

"Because my help was not necessary," Sasuke pointed out blandly as he gestured at the unconscious bodies.

"…Good point." Naruto nodded.

He dusted his clothes of collected dirt. "Well thanks anyway, I guess. It's the thought that counts."

"I didn't come here to save you," Sasuke retorted irritably. He swiftly turned around and started to walk away. He _honestly_ had not gone there because he saw Naruto being harassed by a bunch of thugs. It was merely because he was looking for a private, out-of-the-way area to smoke (_yes,_Uchiha Sasuke smokes) before he met up with Itachi and Kisame to bring Itachi the (pink) cotton candy his older brother had requested (_"It's my birthday, little brother. You have to do what I say."). _It was only by sheer coincidence that he came upon the scene and it was only because they were going to attack him that Sasuke was ready to beat them all to a pulp. It had nothing to do with the fact that Naruto was there and so was Sasuke.

Naruto puffed his cheeks indignantly and hurried after the older man. "Sure you did! You just don't want to admit you have a nice side is all!"

"You jump to conclusions," was Sasuke's abrupt response.

"I do not!"

Naruto almost collided into Sasuke's back when he came to a sudden stop and rounded on him. If Naruto was any other person, perhaps he would have _some_ sense to be intimidated by the look Sasuke was giving him.

"Why are you following me?"

"…Um." Naruto replied dumbly. He blinked, pondered the question for a moment, and shrugged. "I was talking to you, and I wasn't done, so I'm following you."

"Our conversation is now over," Sasuke said coolly and stalked off once more.

"You know, you're more bastardly outside of school!" Naruto called out after him. He stood there for a few moments until he decided to take off after his teacher. Their conversation was most definitely _not _over, at least not until Uzumaki Naruto agreed it was!

"Students don't normally follow their teachers around outside of school," Sasuke snapped.

"Those rules don't apply for bastardly teachers!"

"Do you make a habit of stalking 'bastardly teachers'?"

"_No!_ And I am not stalking you! I am merely continuing our conversation that you so rudely declared as _over_ even when it is most obviously _not _over!"

Sasuke snorted. Why did Uzumaki have to be so damn stubborn and persistent? Not to mention infuriating. If it wasn't for the fact that the boy was one of his students, Sasuke would have no qualms introducing Naruto's face to his fist. But then again, there was always martial arts class for that. The sudden evil, foreboding aura that had engulfed his teacher should have been enough to put Naruto off and back away, but as Sasuke put it – he was damn stubborn and persistent.

So Sasuke switched to another tactic and practically growled: "There was no point to our conversation!"

"Yes there was!"

"And what point was there?!" It took all of his willpower not to scream at the madness of it all.

He wondered how Iruka hadn't gone crazy by now being Naruto's caretaker and such.

"WELL! Let me _tell_ you then!" Naruto puffed his chest out. "There was the _point_ that… that…" He faltered. "…OH! There was the fact that… you… me… I… erm…" He paused to scratch his whiskered cheek. "…There _was _a point but you made me forget!"

Lazy, onyx eyes stared blandly at Naruto. "Very brilliant, Uzumaki."

"Shut up, bastard!"

Sasuke's lip smirked in obvious superiority. Naruto seemed not to care who his superiors were (his vulgar speech gave it away), but Sasuke would, over time, teach the blond how to properly address his elders. "It's 'shut up, _sensei.'_"

"We're not in school so I am not obliged to refer to you in that manner."

"Really, Uzumaki. Stop it. I'm beginning to think you know big words."

"_Argh!_ You're so, so… so… So insufferable!"

"There you go again."

Sasuke wondered if he was enjoying riling the boy up a bit _too _much, but seeing him so flustered, indignant and outraged more than amused the older male. The humor he found in Naruto's predicament was more than evident in his normally impassive obsidian eyes and Naruto had to stop himself from thinking how much _nicer_ Sasuke looked with an expression different from boredom and indifference. He was _not_ about to start thinking that his teacher was nice in _any way _– be it looks or personality! This man was an Asshole with a capital **A**.

"I know big words!"

"You may _know _them, but do you understand _what _they mean?"

"Sh-shut up! I do!"

Naruto was red in the face at this point.

"Your red face tells me otherwise."

Naruto had to restrain himself not to karate-chop this man all the way to the moon. It wouldn't do well for him to karate chop his martial arts teacher to the moon because said teacher would no doubt come back with vengeance and unleash it tenfold.

"Shut up!" was Naruto's intelligent retort.

Sasuke crouched down so they were at eye level. Naruto blinked in confusion and his face only lit up more due to their close proximity. The taller man raised a hand and suddenly flicked the smaller one on the forehead. Naruto squawked and leaped back, rubbing hurriedly at the tiny burn where he was thwacked sharply.

"Ow! Hey! What was that for?!"

Sasuke straightened himself with a smirk gracing his lips. He tucked his hands into his pockets and said casually, "For being a dobe."

"Argh! Our conversation is _so_ over!" Naruto growled and started to storm off.

Forget what he said earlier – Sasuke was an ass with a capital A-S-_S!_

The Uchiha chuckled and proceeded to walk on.

Naruto glared over his shoulder. "Stop following me!"

Sasuke shrugged. "I can't help it if we're going in the same direction."

"Don't lie!"

"I do not lie." Really, he didn't. Sasuke was as honest and as blunt as ever. He never had any reason to _lie._

While Naruto (stomped) walked ahead, Sasuke trailed behind, looking for his brother and Kisame. Considering the way Naruto was looking left and right Sasuke figured he was looking for his friends. While he was enthusiastic to locate his friends, Sasuke was in no rush to find Itachi and Kisame. Yes, he was still mad by the fact that his brother made him get _pink _cotton candy. If it was blue he wouldn't have been _as _infuriated. But, oh well. In the end Itachi wasn't going to get his cotton candy and Sasuke wouldn't have it any other way. Revenge was sweet. He felt accomplished for the day – or week, whichever.

He paused when something _wet_ dropped on his forehead.

Blinking, Sasuke turned his gaze to the sky and stared inquisitively at the dark, foreboding rain clouds up ahead. It wasn't long after before another _plop_ splattered on his head, and then his nose, and then his cheek… He could hear Naruto curse up ahead when the rain came down more persistently, albeit gently.

"Man… I can't believe I forgot my umbrella…" Naruto grumbled as he snatched a newspaper from a passerby, earning an indignant snarl from them that he chose to ignore as he looked around for shelter. He kept the newspaper spread over his head but if he didn't find shelter soon, it would become useless since it was starting to get soaked. He spotted Sasuke already standing beneath an overhanging roof, looking as bored and detached as usual. Naruto brushed aside his pride and scurried over, seeking refuge from the rain next to his teacher.

"Today just really isn't my day," Naruto said out loud sullenly. He contemplated his own statement before adding, "Yeah, it really isn't. First I get separated from my friends, then I get jumped, and now I get stuck in the rain." He sighed heavily, shoulders slumping and head sagging. "Just _wonderful._"

Sasuke heard what he was saying but chose not to comment. He was debating whether he should hurry to his car but felt he wasn't ready to get wet yet. He was enjoying being nice and warm for however long it lasted. Maybe if he waited long enough the rain would die out so he could head on home. Sasuke figured the sooner the better so he wouldn't have to tolerate Naruto's chattering for long. He saw the boy slide to the ground from the corner of his eye. Naruto made himself as comfortable as he could on the cold, dirty ground and stretched his leg out far enough where it wasn't protruding out beneath the rain. His shoelaces were untied but he ignored that minor detail. Sasuke glanced down and couldn't help but notice that Naruto's converses were a retina-burning orange. How _fitting._

"Oh hey look it's those guys," Naruto's voice suddenly brought his attention back to reality.

Sasuke lifted his head up and narrowed his eyes at the group of thugs that had jumped Naruto not too long ago. They were walking down the road out in the open rain and Naruto stood up as they came closer. They were heading in their direction so Naruto prepared himself in case he needed to teach them a lesson _again._Some lingering people stopped and gave their attention to the scene of intimidating men heading towards the blond and the raven. There was silence save for the _pitter pattering _of rain as it splattered on top of booth tents, buildings and rides. Naruto tensed the closer they got and Sasuke remained unnerved by their approach. His arms were crossed as he leaned casually against a post.

As soon as they were in front of them, Naruto glared. "What? Back for more?"

He didn't receive a response right away and tensed up even more when one of the men took a step out of the group – obviously the ringleader of the posse.

"…"

"…"

Naruto jumped into a fighting position when the man made another move, but Naruto found himself gaping when the guy dropped to hands and knees, his hands pressed down above his head with his forehead touching the dirt.

"Forgive us, Yamaki Naruko!"

"…Eeeehh?"

Even Sasuke looked rather taken aback by the apology.

The other men behind the ringleader suddenly dropped down as well into the same, submissive position and Naruto stared dumbfounded down at them.

"Forgive us!" They all chorused.

"Wh-wh-what… What's going on?" Naruto demanded flabbergasted. "First you try to beat me up and now you suddenly want my forgiveness? This makes no sense!"

The ringleader looked up at him sullenly. "We know we were wrong for our actions, but please understand! We thought if we got to you, we could get to Gaara-sama!"

"Gaara…sama?" Naruto repeated. He felt his head was going to burst any moment from confusion.

"Yes!" The ringleader was sitting up on his knees by then, looking as sincere as he possibly could. "You see, the first time you came upon us, we were trying to persuade Gaara-sama to come back to Suna with us, but he declined and said we would have to force him! Now, we've dealt with Gaara-sama in the past so we knew he was serious! So we tried to force him… but that didn't work. And then when we saw you again… we thought since you were friends with Gaara-sama perhaps if we got you we could force him that way to come back!"

"…"

Naruto rubbed his forehead. "So…that doesn't explain why you were perving on that lady."

"Eh…" The ringleader looked sheepish. "Gaara-sama always did beat us up for perving on women. It is a fault of ours."

Naruto clucked his tongue and shook his head.

"But after we witnessed your strength, we realized we couldn't force you to do anything against your will," the ringleader continued to confess. "And we came to an agreement that we want you, Yamaki Naruko, to help us bring Gaara-sama home!"

"Well… I don't know…" Naruto scratched his cheek uncertainly. "…Well, for one thing, it's _Uzumaki Naruto, _not Yamaki Naruko…"

"Aa. Sorry, Nabuto."

"Na-ru-to."

"Na-bu-to."

"…"

"…"

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uzuyami Naruto."

"…"

Naruto's brow twitched but he forced himself to remain calm. He could _feel_ Sasuke's taunting smirk on him but chose to ignore it. "Okay, so, you want me to help you bring Gaara home."

They nodded.

"And what if I don't…?"

They all looked dejected and grim.

"Then everything will be ruined!"

"We've been lost without Gaara-sama's guidance!"

"We don't know what to do!"

"It's all chaos in Suna!"

"Everyone needs him!"

"_We _need him!"

Naruto stared in awe at their unabashed declaration. They were all on their feet now, wet from head-to-toe from the pouring rain, but their expressions remained stubbornly determined to get Naruto to help them. He never knew that Gaara was so loved and needed by people in his hometown, but then again, he knew next to nothing about Gaara and why the redhead chose to stay in Konoha than in Suna.

"Even if Uzumaki could help," Sasuke suddenly spoke up in a drawl, "Sabaku's banned from Suna. He wouldn't be able to return."

Naruto gave him a surprised look. He looked at the men. "He's banned? Is this true?"

They all nodded their heads solemnly.

"It is true… but we believe that if someone talks to him or makes him go back, the banishment won't matter and he'll fix it! Suna _needs_ Gaara! He's the Kazekage's _son;_the next Kage heir!"

"The Kazekage's son…?" Naruto was stunned, to say the least. "Wasn't the Kazekage murdered?" Even he was aware of the assassination of the Yondaime Kazekage of Suna. It had been all over the news all those years ago. But who would have thought Gaara was his _son _and the next in line for Kazekage?

Sasuke sighed as he fixed the men with a look. "Sabaku has his reasons for not going back, I'm sure. Regardless of how strong you think Uzumaki is, I doubt he'd be able to persuade Sabaku to return to Suna. If the only reason you came to Konoha was to persuade him otherwise, your presence here is then pointless. It is best you all left."

They looked even more dejected if possible and Naruto couldn't help but sympathize with them. He could see just how much they respected Gaara and it made Naruto even more curious as to what _more _there was to the stoic redhead. Even with such an impassive attitude he managed to bring out such high respect from others who held him with strong regards. They started to walk off, but Naruto stepped forward and called out.

"Wait!" They turned to him inquiringly and Naruto smiled, giving them the thumbs-up. "I'll talk to Gaara for you guys and see what I can do! If I have to I'll kick his ass all the way back to Suna! That's a promise!"

There was hope in their eyes as they gazed upon the confident blond. They returned the smiles and headed off in lighter spirits. Naruto waved as they left and Sasuke snorted.

"Do not make promises you can't keep, dobe."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "What makes you think I won't keep my promise?" His face split into a shit-eating grin that made Sasuke feel the need to believe the boy for once. "I always keep my promises, dattebayo!"

"Hey, teme, why was Gaara banished anyway?" Naruto suddenly asked, looking thoughtful.

Sasuke shrugged. "You'd have to ask him."

Naruto sighed in disappointment as he stared up at the raining sky. He couldn't stop thinking about those men and how much they seemed to care about Gaara. It made Naruto happy, deep down, to see that; to know that Gaara was wanted by people. He always seemed so… _alone_ at school and wherever else he went; as if no one wanted him. That was probably one of the reasons why Naruto tried so hard to talk to the redhead. Naruto understood loneliness to a severe degree so he hated seeing others lonely. Perhaps if Gaara went home and his banishment was over, he wouldn't look so lonely anymore?

Sasuke wondered why the boy was being so uncharacteristically quiet and looked down at him so see the blond deep in thought, a distant expression plastered on his face, head tilted to the sky. He had to admit, without Naruto being so loud and obnoxious, he was pretty tolerable to look at what-with his sunny blond hair and stormy blue eyes that seemed to reflect the raging skies above. It was as if you could get lost in that storm and it wouldn't matter _at all. _Obsidian eyes wandered along the contours of a tanned jaw and traced the three whiskered marks on his profile. He wondered how the boy got them but decided it wasn't any of his business. Without Naruto being so chatty and loud, Sasuke couldn't help but think that the blond was _cute_ in a way.

He promptly smacked a hand to his forehead and over his eyes. What was he _thinking? _Uzumaki_ Naruto…_cute? Like Hell he was with his brightly glaring orange converses and sweater and his tight jeans that would have clung to any normal person's legs. But Naruto was skinny so the jeans looked baggy and hung on his hips – Not that Sasuke was noticing or anything. He tore his gaze away and dropped his hand back to his side.

Naruto blinked and snapped out of his thoughts with a sigh. His sigh caught the attention of Sasuke, and just as Sasuke turned to look at him, Naruto lifted his gaze and fiery obsidian bore into Caribbean blues on a stormy day. Something in Naruto twisted and tugged. It was a strange feeling – almost painful – and he felt the temperature in his cheeks rising for some unknown reason. He brought a hand to his forehead. He wasn't burning up but he concluded he was catching a cold from being out in the rain.

Sasuke seemed to be on the same train of thought as Naruto. He stepped out towards the rain and Naruto looked at him in confusion. He cocked his head a bit. "Come. I'll give you a ride home. It'll do you no good to try to find your friends now. They all probably left."

Naruto nodded and followed Sasuke out into the rain. They hurried down the rows of game booths and rides to the front entrance. A thought suddenly occurred to Naruto as they maneuvered through the parking lot.

"Hey! Don't you drive a motorcycle? Wouldn't it be dangerous to drive that in the rain?" Naruto called out.

"Do you honestly think I would come here with my motorcycle?" Sasuke asked over his shoulder. He _had _checked the weather earlier on today and the weather forecast _had_ predicted rain. Like Hell he would come there in his motorcycle. As he approached his car Sasuke reached into his jacket pocket to pull out his keys. He clicked the automatic locks and Naruto looked around for a car to react. When he saw which car _beeped _in response, his jaw practically hit the ground.

Never in his life had he seen a more sexier car.

"Oh my god," he breathed, having the insane urge to rub up against it and coo (although he knew if he did, Sasuke would shoot him dead with his _glare_). "She's so _hot."_

It was a 2006 Mustang covered in a sleek, chrome color, completely unscathed without a tiny scratch. Even in the rain it managed to sit there in all its wonderful glory that Naruto could only gape as he forgot what the whole purpose of going to said car was. Sasuke looked at him amusedly from where he stood, the driver door open.

"Are you going to stand there all day, dobe, or are you going to get in?"

Shaking his head and stopping his gaping, Naruto hurried over and opened the passenger door. He was about to hop in but hesitated as he took in the clean, leather interior. He was wet and dirty and he would feel bad if he messed up Sasuke's car. But Sasuke was as wet and dirty and didn't seem to have any qualms hopping into his car. Naruto climbed in soon after and shut his door, immediately pulling on his seat belt as Sasuke started the engine, the Mustang revving to life.

"If you get your fingerprints anywhere, consider it another month's worth of detention," Sasuke's warning made Naruto rethink his earlier statement. So Sasuke really _did_ care about his car and the fact that they were both wet was something neither could help. For the remainder of the drive Naruto opted to sit stiffly and as still as he possibly could. With or without Sasuke's warning he would feel bad if he got his wet hands on the nice leather interior.

The silence was heavy as Sasuke drove. Naruto didn't feel like speaking and Sasuke never felt like speaking. They were stuck at a red light and the only sound they could hear was the window wipers moving along the flat expanse of glass and the pounding of the rain as it picked up speed. Naruto stuck his hands into his pockets to warm them up and for the first time realized his cell phone was in there. He pulled it out and flipped it open, noticing belatedly that he had four missed calls – all from Kiba. He wondered why he hadn't heard any of his calls and saw he had set the volume to mute. _Oops, _he thought with a sweatdrop.

He texted Kiba saying he was alright and that he was getting a ride home before sending the message and putting his phone back in his pocket. The car was moving again. Naruto fidgeted.

"Aa, turn here," Naruto suddenly said, remembering Sasuke was driving him home. Sasuke did, having to switch lanes first and of _course_the car on the other lane had to be an asshole and speed up. Sasuke cursed the driver out but made it to the other lane and turn without any harm done.

"Road rage much?" Naruto teased.

Sasuke relaxed and ignored his comment. He reached over and turned the radio on. A techno song was playing and Naruto stared at the radio with wide eyes.

"You like techno music?"

"Not really," Sasuke muttered. "Itachi had left my radio on that station."

Naruto's lips split into an impossibly wide, amused grin. "Your brother likes techno music?"

"Apparently," Sasuke said with little to no interest.

Naruto looked panicked suddenly. "Your brother and his weird-fish friend! Were you their ride?!"

_If only, _Sasuke thought, because then he would have felt more glee knowing he left them both at the carnival. He shook his head. "No. Kisame is Itachi's ride."

"Oh, okay," Naruto sighed with relief. "Kiba was my ride, but I'm sure he got the others home alright."

Sasuke shrugged uncaring. They could be stuck out in the rain for all he cared.

"Turn here," Naruto instructed. "And at the next light make a left."

Sasuke followed his instructions as the radio started to play commercials. Naruto searched through the stations but eventually gave up since every other station he came upon was playing commercials. He turned the radio off and relaxed back in his seat. It wasn't long before they came upon his house and Naruto pointed out which one was his and Sasuke pulled up to it.

"Thanks for the ride!" Naruto said gratefully, grinning at his teacher as he started to open the door.

"Wait," Sasuke suddenly said and the blond paused in bewilderment. He leaned in towards him and Naruto's eyes started to widen as the distance between them shortened. The man was so close that Naruto could practically smell Sasuke's cologne. He wasn't sure what cologne he wore but it was a nice smell – nothing overwhelming or powerful, but pleasant to the nose. Naruto felt his cheeks heating up as Sasuke reached up, plucked something out of his hair, and held a leaf in front of inquisitive blue eyes. "It was in your hair."

"…" Naruto creased his brows before pouting. "And you _just _tell me now?! You asshole! You left it there on purpose!"

Sasuke shrugged and leaned away, though the smirk on his face was unmistakable. "Oh well."

Sticking his tongue out, Naruto climbed out of the car and out into the rain. "Thanks for the ride, but you're still an asshole!"

"Yeah, yeah." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Naruto closed the door and waved him off, hurrying up the front path and to the porch of his house. The front door was unlocked so he quickly slipped in. He spared a glance over his shoulder only to find Sasuke no longer there. He closed the door behind him and leaned his back on the wooden frame, sighing and wondering why, in all the world, his cheeks were burning up so much.

Sulking, Naruto went in search of Iruka. "Iruka-senseiiiii, I caught a cooollld…!"

When he didn't receive an immediate response, Naruto headed towards the kitchen where he figured his caretaker was making dinner. He forgot the minor detail that he was wet and was leaving a trail of wet puddles from the front door and to the kitchen. The consequences for that was the furthest thing from his mind as he stepped in, only to stumble back as if burned.

"GAAAAAAAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO IRUKA-SENSEI?!"

"Na-Naruto!"

"KYAH! KAKASHI-PERVERT! STOP TOUCHING IRUKA-SENSEI!"

Kakashi smiled pleasantly. Iruka had shoved him away and hopped off the table, looking like he was ready to die of embarrassment at any moment.

"Naruto, it's not what you think!"

"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU PERVERT! DIRTYING IRUKA-SENSEI WITH YOUR HANDS AND PUTTING YOUR TONGUE IN HIS MOUTH!"

"Maa, maa, Naruto-kun…" Kakashi tried to pacify, but Naruto wasn't going to have any of it and proceeded to chase his silver-haired teacher around the house.

* * *

"…Okay so let me get this straight." 

Kiba made hand gestures. "You went home. Went into the kitchen and saw… Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei _making out?!"_

Naruto glared at him. "That is _exactly _what I said. Must I repeat myself?"

Needless to say the blond hadn't calmed down and was practically stabbing away at his lunch as he imagined it to be Kakashi's face. That creepy man! How _dare _he do bad things to Iruka-sensei?! Who _knew_ what else Kakashi would have done if Naruto hadn't shown up when he did!

"Wow…" Kiba looked sympathetic as he patted Naruto on the back. "That sucks man."

Naruto nodded wildly in agreement and shoved some food in his mouth.

"What's wrong with him?" Chouji asked as both he and Shikamaru joined them at the table.

Shino glanced at them from over his glasses with a look that clearly said:_ You don't want to know._

Shikamaru didn't want to know but Chouji was curious enough so Kiba replied nonchalantly: "Naruto walked in on Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei making out yesterday."

The chopsticks in Naruto's grip abruptly snapped in half. Yes, Shikamaru _hadn't_ wanted to know and he _still _didn't want to know. But that couldn't be helped. Chouji looked like he wished he hadn't asked.

"Stupid, _stupid_ pervert," Naruto was growling in between bites and swallows. The bell eventually rang signaling the end of lunch, and the boys got up and cleared their table before they dispersed for class. The Inuzuka was walking with the blond as they mingled with the crowd of students to make it on time to class.

Something suddenly occurred to Naruto.

"Hey, Kiba?"

"Aa?"

"What does 'insufferable' mean?"

Kiba looked at him oddly before shrugging. "Hell if I know."

* * *

We both know something's begun  
Nothing feels that real without you  
Wanna learn so much about you

* * *

And I know this is getting old, but I really am thankful to everyone for the reviews. And I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Belated Christmas and a Happy New Year. I have a resolution not to work so much anymore and spend more time focusing on school -- and my writing. Did ya'll make any New Year's resolution(s)? Do tell me about them! I'm always curious to know. 

;-D

PS: FFnet's 'tarded what-with it constantly combining my damn italicized words with the next word and it's a pain in the ass to go through and separate them. Sorry if there's some words combined that I skimmed over!


	13. tears will be an added bonus

**Ramblings: **Totally unrelated to Naruto but… SUPATUNA ROCKS MY WORLD SO BAD AHAHA. Gawd. Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Gotta love it xDD And I love that SupaTuna is becoming so popular so quickly. I CAN'T BLAME ANYONE. IT'S SO HOT –DIES-

Anyway. Right. The fic. Tihihihi –giggles madly- Enjoy. I guess. Sure. RIGHT. –bouncebouncebounce-

AND YEAH TOTALLY UNEDITED. SO BE CAREFUL. I JUST WANNA GET THIS DAMN THING UP. HUZZAH!

* * *

"Sabaku no Gaara…"

Smirk.

"Uh did you say something, sempai?"

"…No. Now shut up. You're ruining the moment, un."

"Aa… Sorry."

Silence.

"Er how long do you plan on standing there—"

"_I said shut up!"_

"Ow, ow! Okay – I'm sorry! Geez… So this is Konoha, huh, sempai? Why are we here?"

"Because of _him." _Determined eyes. "I will _destroy _Sabaku no Gaara

"…Really? Because I don't think that's such a good idea— Ow! Okay! I'll be quiet!"

"Tch."

**Welcome to yaoi high.  
13. **tears will be an added bonus, but are not required

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

Was it him or did people seem to be saying his name a lot today?

The blond cringed and rubbed his head. First Iruka had to rouse him up from bed (yell at him, more like it), and whenever the man roused (yelled at) Naruto to get up from bed, he always had to say the boy's full name to make it sound more authoritative (and scary). Other teachers seemed to share the same sentiment – like Sasuke – because whenever he dozed off it was always: _Uzumaki Naruto! Pay attention!_

He wondered what he did wrong this time.

"What'd I do wrong _this _time --?" he asked as he turned around cautiously, but nearly jumped out of his skin when he found himself nose-to-nose with Kiba. "Gah – Kiba! What the hell?!"

"Hehe." The dog lover grinned. "I've been looking for you _everywhere."_

"Eh. Why…?" Naruto narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Kiba straightened himself up – having to crouch down to be nose-to-nose and eye level with Naruto. "You see, I've been observing you these past few days—"

"What the… Why?!" Naruto spluttered.

"—And I've concluded you can't _possibly _be straight. You're too… too…"

"Too what?!"

"Uh, well, basically you attract a lot of _guys. _No straight man can do that."

"…So?! And what guys?!"

"And you're too cute to be straight!" Kiba beamed at his logic and patted the boy on the head.

"… (smile, smile!)"

"…Are you _petting _me?"

"…Uh. Heehe?" He withdrew his hand cautiously. Naruto looked like he was about to bite him any moment. He would know. Sometimes, when Akamaru didn't want to be petted, he would get this _look_ before he bit. Funny how he was comparing Naruto to his dog… Oh well. "But yeah. I am here to… issue a challenge to you! I am challenging your straightness! And in order for you to prove your heterosexual feelings, you have to kiss me!"

"How is that supposed to prove I'm _straight?" _Naruto all-but howled indignantly. "Won't it just make me _gay?! _Especially if I kissed _you?"_

"Hey, hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Kiba asked, feigning hurt. "And it would prove yourself because… if you're so confident and secure about your sexuality, you wouldn't be phased by a measly kiss with me!" Kiba flashed him a winning grin.

"…You just want a kiss," Naruto deadpanned.

"So are you gonna prove your sexuality to me or what?" Kiba asked as he puckered his lips.

Naruto rolled his eyes and smacked Kiba hard enough to send him bouncing off nearby lockers. The brunette looked like a kicked puppy as he watched Naruto walk away, muttering a: "Stupid… As if I'd let him kiss me… Prove my sexuality… HA. Right…"

"Hm…"

Kiba looked up and glared when seeing Sai standing beside him. When had the other guy come over anyway? He was smiling his usual smile – eyes closed. But he looked pleased for someone who normally didn't _show _any emotion.

"This is your strategy to get into Naruto-kun's pants, no?" Sai asked.

Kiba gritted his teeth. "No! And even if it is, back off!"

"Let's make this a competition," Sai continued on as if Kiba hadn't said anything. "I challenge you. First one to get Naruto's first kiss… has all claims over him."

"Are you serious?! I don't accept your challenge! It's stupid!"

"How do they say…" Sai paused contemplatively. His eyes opened and he turned challenging, dark eyes to the dog lover. "Are you… scared of a little competition?"

"_Pft! _Me? Kidding? Of course not! I accept your challenge," Kiba sneered, glowering at the paler one.

The two students stood their grounds as they tried to break the other down with looks alone. It didn't seem they were going to stop anytime soon.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru passed them with a sigh.

* * *

It turned out Gaara was the one 'who won the challenge.' It was a freak-accident, according to Kiba.

It went something along the lines of this:

"RAMEEEN--!" Naruto burst into the cafeteria, slipped on an orange, landed in a wet area that hadn't been mopped yet, slid down the aisle, crashed into Gaara who was walking to a table, knocking the redhead over on top of him with their lips smacked together.

Naruto swore beyond the stars spinning in his head that he heard clicking noises that sounded suspiciously like cameras going off.

It turned out that Gaara wasn't even Naruto's first kiss. He wouldn't tell anyone who _was _his first kiss.

Sai and Kiba decided that the bet was void since an outside party got involved. They called the challenge off.

* * *

"So who was your first kiss?" Kiba asked, forcefully grabbing Naruto in a headlock.

The blond scowled before throwing Kiba over his shoulder.

He walked away with a: "As if I'd tell you!"

* * *

"Here." Sasuke held out a piece of paper to Naruto when he walked into his classroom after school.

The boy looked at it in confusion. "Whassat?"

"Your test. It's graded," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes and shoving it into Naruto's hands. "I figured I'd show you your score before I handed them out tomorrow."

The blond hesitantly turned the paper over, and when he saw what was marked, his eyes bulged out in surprise. "Holy shit! An _A _minus? Are you fucking serious?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes irritably. "Yes I am fucking serious, as you so blatantly put it. Idiot."

"YOSH!" Naruto pumped his fist into the air. He was beaming like Christmas came early. "I can't wait to show Iruka-sensei! He's going to _totally _freak out and so give me ramen for the rest of my life!"

"Tch." Sasuke snatched the paper back and stacked it with the rest of the tests. He placed them in a drawer before standing up and gathering his things.

"No tutoring today?" Naruto asked, looking at him in confusion.

"No. There's no homework today. And I figured I could use a break," Sasuke said. Naruto stuck his tongue at the man.

"You know you love my company!"

Snort. "Right."

"Okay well then I'll see you later!" Naruto waved him off and jogged out of the classroom, happy to get away from school so early (for once).

Sasuke locked up after him and headed for his car. In all honesty, he'd rather deal with Naruto any day than deal with what he had to deal with: a problem known as 'Itachi.' The Devil (Itachi) and his Advocate (Kisame) were still in town and Sasuke had no idea how long they were staying for. After the circus he had a week of freedom from the two that Sasuke was convinced they went back home, but he got a call early that morning (at 4:35 AM, to be exact. Sasuke was pissed) from Itachi saying he wanted to eat with Sasuke after he got back from school.

School. And the way Itachi had said _school _had irked Sasuke to the very core that he wanted to punch Itachi's eyeballs deep into his sockets. It reminded him of when they were younger and Itachi would tell his little brother that he would 'pick him up from school when he was done.'

At least he had martial arts after, because then he could fully unleash his anger out on his students (or so goes the cycle of Displacement(1)). Sasuke learned long ago that Itachi wasn't fazed by anything (not even a temperamental Sasuke at age four), and could only make a few, select facial expressions. But then again Sasuke was rather limited as well. He tried grinning once on a dare from Itachi but two little girls saw and ran crying to their mothers about a scary man… The teacher's brow twitched at the memory. And people wondered why he never smiled… Psh. He had a perfectly good reason. But the point was Sasuke made more facial expressions than Itachi, or at least showed more emotions than his impassive older brother.

And yet the younger Uchiha could not understand what compelled people to liking Itachi more than him! It was a mystery he could never solve. Didn't anyone realize what a frightening man Itachi _really _was? But it wasn't like Sasuke cared. No of course not.

During his mental musings he had gotten so deep in thought that he forgot he was already on his motorcycle racing to meet Itachi for dinner. He was snapped out of his musing when a car behind him honked, the driver sticking his head out the window to yell:

"HEY ASSHOLE! IT'S BEEN A GREEN LIGHT FOR THE PAST MINUTE!"

Sasuke growled and flipped the man off before speeding onward. He eventually arrived at an Italian restaurant – Itachi's favorite that he always made sure to eat at when coming to Konoha. Sasuke pulled into the parking garage and headed to the restaurant, his helmet tucked between his arm and side. The female hostess at the front batted her eyes prettily at him when she saw him enter.

"How are you this afternoon, sir?"

"Fine. I have a reservation with Uchiha Itachi," Sasuke said getting straight to the point.

She checked the list and nodded. "Uchiha-san has already checked in. Follow me and I'll take you to your seat." The hostess guided Sasuke past other tables and chattering people until they reached the back. She pushed aside a velvet red curtain and held it open for Sasuke. He stepped through and found himself in a dim room, a bar to the left and a few tables and booths around. There were scarce people in there. Sasuke spotted Itachi sitting at one of the booths, sipping a martini. The younger Uchiha went over and joined his brother at the table. The hostess set a menu down for him and beamed at both brothers.

"Would you like a drink to start off with?" she asked Sasuke.

"Hn. Scotch on the rocks."

She bowed and went off to get his drink.

"I'm surprised you actually showed up, little brother," Itachi greeted as he took a sip of his martini.

"Free food," Sasuke said simply with a shrug. Well, most of the time dinner with Itachi was free. But there were some instances where Itachi would up and leave him with the bill like his uncle was infamous of doing. The hostess came back with Sasuke's drink before taking the brothers' orders and parting. "Is there a reason for this dinner?"

"Can't I have bonding time with my favorite brother?"

"I'm your only brother."

"I talked to uncle a while ago."

Sasuke snorted, already becoming bored with the topic of their conversation. He picked up his drink and rolled it around, watching the blocks of ice shift inside before bringing the glass to his lips and drinking. He let out an appreciative sigh and set his drink back on the table. "That man is too persistent for his age."

"I told him I wasn't going to pressure you to work for our company," Itachi continued on calmly.

"Okay, great." Sasuke drawled out with obvious sarcasm dripping in his tone. It wasn't like he'd work for the company even _if _Itachi were to pressure him. There was a reason he didn't want to work for the company in the first place, hence why he went off on his own path and took up a teaching job.

"You realize, little brother, if anything were to happen to me that you are required to take over in my stead?"

"I know that." He scowled. "You're young. It's not as if you're about to keel over from a heart attack any moment. I have nothing to worry about."

"Hn." Itachi clasped his hands over the table. "I am just merely reminding you, Sasuke."

"No need to, Itachi."

"There's also the issue of who's going to take over the company when either of us passes away –"

"Aren't we a bit young to be thinking about that?" Sasuke asked clearly irritated. He knew they weren't and that eventually they'd have to discuss it, but talking about the business was not something he _wanted _to discuss while having dinner. "Have kids or something. Knock up a few women. Give it to some distant cousin. Do whatever. I don't care. It has nothing to do with me."

"Is that how you really feel about our parents' company?" Itachi asked calmly.

The younger one didn't respond. He took another swig of his scotch. "You know how I feel about it, Itachi."

The man nodded. The conversation ended there for the waitress came with their food. The two Uchiha's ate in silence – for the most part – with Itachi asking random questions.

"Did you find yourself a boyfriend yet, little brother?"

"That isn't any of your business, big brother."

"As your older brother, it is my business."

"Tch. Not really."

* * *

When Naruto was leaving the school and heading home, he spotted Gaara and joined the redhead, much to Gaara's misfortune. Well, it wasn't that he hated Naruto. He didn't mind the blond's presence as much as he originally thought. But it was just that… being around the blond made him feel… _weird._

Weird and _tingly._

It was unnerving and Gaara didn't need to feel such strange things. It was completely out-of-character for him.

Not to mention his thoughts kept straying back to the accidental kiss he had with Naruto. Although short, Gaara could have sworn Naruto's lips felt… What was the word… _pleasant. _He wanted to try again to see if it was as pleasant as he figured it was – Wait, no, he didn't want to try it again. Why would Gaara want to try it again?

Jade eyes blinked owlishly at nothing in particular.

…Maybe he was getting sick.

That would make sense.

As if thinking about the same thing he was thinking, Naruto suddenly spoke up, "Oh yeah, I'm sorry about what happened in the cafeteria! I so didn't mean to trip you or anything."

Gaara merely grunted. The boy wasn't apologizing for the accidental kiss. Did that mean he wasn't sorry…?

"And for, er, you know."

Gaara looked at him quizzically.

Naruto turned red in embarrassment and mumbled something.

Gaara quirked an invisible brow.

"The kiss!" Naruto blurted out. "That was an accident too."

Oh. "Oh. Whatever." Gaara shrugged nonchalantly. So maybe Naruto did regret kissing him… Meh. Gaara didn't care. He was as unmoved as a mountain, remember?

* * *

"I had fun at the carnival," Itachi said.

"Hn."

"Why did you abruptly leave me and Kisame? We wondered where you disappeared off to."

Sasuke shrugged.

Itachi smirked. "I saw you leave with that student of yours. What was his name? Ah yes, Naruto-kun."

Sasuke promptly choked on his food.

* * *

"Have you ever kissed anyone, Gaara?" Naruto asked curiously after thinking back to Kiba and how the dog lover was pestering him about his first kiss.

Grunt.

"Yeah? Have you had many girlfriends?"

Silence.

"Er…Boyfriends?"

"…something like that."

"Uh…" Naruto creased his brows. What was that word again? Oh. "Fuck buddies, then?"

Grunt.

"Aah." Naruto nodded knowingly. "Male fuck buddies, I see. How many?"

Gaara appeared to be thinking before he shrugged.

Naruto's jaw dropped. "Was it _that many _that you can't even remember how many guys you've slept with?!"

Gaara nodded.

"Geez." The blond whistled. "I've only been with…" Naruto realized he couldn't even _start _counting because the fact of the matter was, he was a virgin when it came to sex, and he was kissed a few times in his life. He blushed and trailed off, deciding not to finish his sentence and instead change the topic, "Let's get ice cream!"

Gaara smirked knowingly.

"Why are you smirking at me like that?!"

"No reason."

"Yeah right!"

"Hn."

Naruto glared at him suspiciously. Damn bastards and their vague, short responses. "Well, whatever. I still want ice cream."

"Isn't it a bit cold for ice cream?" Gaara deadpanned.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Don't you know anything? Ice cream is best when it's cold weather!"

What kind of logic was that?

They found a local ice cream parlor where Naruto ordered mango ice cream in a cup. Gaara didn't get anything, much to Naruto's incredulity, but the blond left happily with his ice cream either way. It was silent as they walked – much to Gaara's relief. It probably had to do with the ice cream that was keeping Naruto's mouth occupied. But then again, Gaara knew other ways to keep Naruto's mouth busy – Er. Non-perverted ways, of course. Seriously. Gaara wasn't a pervert. He really wasn't.

They passed through a park that Naruto recognized as the same park he saw those 'thugs' try to jump Gaara. He finished his ice cream and tossed the cup and spoon in a nearby garbage. Thinking about the 'thugs' reminded him of the carnival and his promise to those guys. How could he forget?!

"Hey, Gaara." Gaara didn't respond but Naruto continued anyway, "There were these guys I ran into at the carnival. They said something about wanting you to go back home…"

"Hn." The redhead knew without needing to be told who those guys were. What business did they have bothering Naruto about that?

"Why won't you go home? They seem to miss you," Naruto said, looking up at him.

Gaara blinked. Miss him? Then again, he wasn't all that surprised. He remembered what a bunch of lost idiots those guys were without him.

"I have my reasons," Gaara merely replied.

"They said they need you. I feel bad for them."

Shrug.

Naruto frowned. "They really respect you, Gaara. I don't understand why you'd just abandon them and your home."

Gaara paused and Naruto stopped and turned to him, staring questioningly at the taller one. Jade eyes locked with Cerulean blues as Gaara replied tonelessly: "I was kicked out of Suna. There is no reason for me to go back to a place that disowned me."

Naruto was speechless.

Gaara shoved his hands in his pockets and walked on.

* * *

"I was just giving him a ride home," Sasuke said after composing himself.

"And none of his friends could do that?"

"He got split up from them," Sasuke growled, irritated at having to explain himself to Itachi.

"Hn." Itachi looked amused and far from believing. "He's pretty cute, that Naruto-kun."

"I didn't know you liked younger boys, Itachi," Sasuke grit out.

Itachi shrugged. "I was just stating a fact."

* * *

Naruto jogged after Gaara. When he caught up, he said, "Sorry. I didn't know."

Gaara merely shrugged it off. "It doesn't matter."

"Okay." Naruto dropped it. For now. He _did _make a promise to those guys, after all. He figured there was more to it – such as why Gaara was banned from Suna in the first place. Those guys really did seem to respect him, and Naruto was damn sure other people did as well. "Oh hey, look!" Naruto instantly brightened up when he noticed a pile of fallen leaves. Gaara watched in bewilderment as the blond ran towards it… before jumping in, laughing. "I love doing this! Come on, Gaara! Join me!"

Gaara sent him a deadpan look that clearly stated _No fucking way._

Naruto pouted. "Aww c'mon!"

"No."

"It's fun!"

"No."

"I'm serious!"

"No."

"You know you wanna!"

"No."

"Aww you suck!"

"No."

"Argh!" Naruto flung some leaves at him, but being leaves, they didn't make it very far before they fluttered back down. "Whatever. Then I'll have all the fun."

Gaara stared as Naruto tossed up some leaves ("Whee!") and rolled around ("Gah! I think a twig poked my eye! Gaara! Gaara! Come look! Is there something in my eye still?!")

With a suffering sigh, Gaara walked over and stared down at Naruto, who was holding the eye that apparently had been poked by a twig. He waited for Naruto to show him but was momentarily taken aback when Naruto suddenly grinned mischievously and reached out to pull Gaara into the leaves. Thankfully Gaara had quick reflexes so he managed to step away in time, resulting with Naruto's face implanted in the ground.

"Owowowow," Naruto sat up, rubbing his aching face. "God you're a jerk."

Gaara smirked.

Round, blue eyes glared at him sulkily. Gaara's smirk slightly faltered. Slightly.

He was starting to feel weird again.

Damn it. He really was getting sick.

He turned away and pressed a hand to his forehead, checking his temperature. He felt fine...

"You okay?" Naruto asked as he stood up, brushing his clothes of any excess dirt and leaves that clung to him. "Are you getting sick or something?"

"I'm not sure," Gaara muttered quietly.

"We should get out of the cold," Naruto mused as he glanced up at the gray sky. "Hey, hey, Gaara. You should come to my place and have dinner with me and Iruka-sensei! And then we can go to class together!"

Gaara was about to open his mouth to protest, but Naruto was already dragging him by the hand, blabbering about what a great cook Iruka-sensei was and how Iruka-sensei would definitely not mind having company over and blah, blah, blah… Jade eyes stared silently at their clasped hands.

There was that weird feeling again twisting away at his gut.

* * *

"So have you gotten laid in a while, little brother?"

Sasuke choked on a drink this time.

What was with his brother and asking such personal questions?!

He was practically red in the face as he wheezed out: "_That's none of your business!"_

Itachi chuckled. "We are brothers, are we not? You can tell me."

"Like I said, it's none of your business," Sasuke growled, practically ripping through his steak as he took a vicious bite of the meat.

Itachi pretended not to notice as he ate his own food. In the background, Sasuke could hear a group of workers heading towards a table while singing, _"Happy birthday to you!"_

He felt sorry for the poor fool –

Sasuke blinked when a plate of chocolate cake was set in front of him in what appeared to be a volcano, along with crackling candles sparking from the volcano's open mouth.

What. The. Fuck?

"_Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Sasukeeeeee… Happy birthday to you!" _Confetti was tossed in the air and a chorus of cheers rang throughout the private room.

It wasn't his damn birthday!

"It's not my damn birthday—"

"Now let's sing it in Italian! _Buon Compleanno a te… Buon Compleanno a te…!"_

Sasuke's eye twitched haphazardly as he glared at Itachi. He swore the bastard looked as gleeful as was possible for him.

* * *

Dinner with Naruto and Iruka wasn't as bad as Gaara thought it would be. Iruka was nice about everything and he always had a kind smile when addressing Gaara. The only time the man wasn't smiling was when he was scolding Naruto about his rude manners and not to talk when his mouth was full. But other than that, dinner had been… great. The food was great (better than what he made himself, anyway), and the company had been great (for the most part, with the blond being fairly tolerable and talkative, as usual).

The moment Gaara and Naruto walked into the dojo together, Naruto was instantly bombarded by a frazzled Kiba who looked put-out seeing the two walk in together.

"That's none of your business, Kiba!" Naruto could be heard telling Kiba, who looked very much like a kicked puppy.

"But Naruto! I have a right to know!"

"Not really!" Naruto snapped. He sighed and conceded, albeit with a smug grin, "If you must know, Gaara came over to my place for dinner, and then we walked here together!"

"What?!" Kiba clutched his heart before glaring murderously at the redhead who was pointedly ignoring them.

Gaara was smooth.

Too smooth.

Well two could play at that game!

"You should come over to my place for dinner!"

"Maybe," Naruto said, putting his duffle bag and shoes in his locker.

Well maybe was better than nothing, the brunette figured grudgingly. And here Kiba thought he had the upper hand, but apparently Gaara was making moves when no one was paying attention… "I'm on to you," the Inuzuka grumbled as he passed by Gaara.

Gaara shrugged.

Sasuke came storming in not too long after, looking mightily pissed off and irritated. The temperature in the room dropped below zero and Naruto shivered.

"Alright, you useless scum," Sasuke said to his students. "By the end of the night, I _will _be seeing sweat and blood. Tears will be an added bonus, but are not required. Do you understand? Add another sixty to the push-ups and sit ups. Get down on the ground. I _said get started!"_

What the fuck? Was this boot camp or something? Naruto groaned as he shifted to get into position necessary for push-ups. Sure he compared Sasuke to a drill sergeant before, but this was beyond ridiculous! He wanted them to sweat and _bleed? _And maybe _cry too? _What kind of sadistic bastard _was _he?

_A _twisted, _sadistic bastard, _his Inner self concluded.

Naruto could only nod in agreement.

By the time they were done with their push ups and sit ups, Naruto was panting, his cheeks flushed and arms shaking. He sat up, wheezing to compose himself, and was about to make a move to get his water bottle when Sasuke ordered them up for more drills. Naruto tried not to groan out loud, knowing it would only anger their teacher more. They went through a series of moves in perfect sync, following Sasuke's lead (who seemed to be moving much faster than normal). Naruto got so confused that his legs got twisted and he tumbled to the ground with a squawk. He blinked dazedly when seeing onyx eyes peering down at him.

"Can't keep up, Uzumaki?" Sasuke drawled.

Naruto's face heated up with embarrassment and anger. "I just tripped, that's all!"

"Right."

_Asshole, _Naruto mentally seethed as he pushed himself up. He muttered beneath his breath, "What crawled up _his _ass?"

"…What was that, Uzumaki?" Sasuke asked without turning around.

Naruto froze. He didn't like that deadly tone the bastard was using one bit. "Er… nothing?"

"Hn." Sasuke tightened his black belt and peered at Naruto from over his shoulder. "You're going to be my sparring partner tonight."

"Uh… okay."

The blond gulped.

Needless to say, Naruto went flying through the air more times that night than he could count.

* * *

"Oh god I am so sore," Naruto groaned as he slouched down at the table, joining Kiba and the others at the picnic table in front of the school. "It was so hard to get up this morning."

"Tell me about it." Even Kiba's spirits were dimmed as he rested his chin on the table. "I just hope Uchiha's not so much of an asshole today during classes…"

"Somehow I doubt that," Naruto said forebodingly.

Naruto wished so bad that he had been wrong, but he was right. Sasuke had sprung pop quizzes on them in both of Naruto's classes, not to mention he assigned them a 'shit load' of homework that Naruto knew would take him hours to complete, _and _he was constantly on Naruto's case during Physiology during their lab. They were taking blood samples so Sasuke could show them what blood type they were. Naruto pricked _all _of his fingers so many times that all ten were covered in bandages.

"My hands…" Naruto whined to Shikamaru after class, looking teary-eyed.

Shikamaru shook his head.

Lee patted Naruto consolingly on the head. "It's okay, Naruto-kun. Look at mine!" He beamed as he held up his hands. Naruto gaped at them. They were so puffy and swollen!

"What… How'd that happen?!" Naruto asked, aghast.

Lee shrugged. "No idea. I think I came in contact with something I'm allergic to…"

Even Shikamaru looked incredulous. "What?"

"Yeah. Uchiha-sensei has this plant in his classroom that I accidentally knocked over. I grabbed it so it wouldn't break… I think it's… I think it's poison ivy… Wow I feel woozy all of a sudden."

Lee stumbled and fainted, eyes spinning.

"Lee!" Naruto gasped theatrically.

Shikamaru sighed. "So troublesome."

Without coming in contact with Lee's infested hands, Naruto and Shikamaru took Lee to the school nurse. Luckily it wasn't so serious and a local doctor came in time to treat Lee, although Lee would remain on bed rest for a while.

"Poor Lee," Naruto said pityingly.

Shikamaru nodded in agreement.

"What happened to Lee?" Kiba asked as he joined them at the lunch table.

"He came in contact with poison ivy," Shikamaru answered.

"Apparently he's allergic to it, too," Naruto finished.

"Man that sucks," Kiba said before wolfing down his food. He glanced at Naruto's hands and noted all of the bandages on them. The bandages had little pandas on them. Kiba snickered. "Cute band aids, blondie."

Naruto huffed. "Damn Uchiha-teme… I bet he bought these band aids on purposely to humiliate us!"

"Obviously," Gaara gave his two-cents into the conversation as he joined them. Since he couldn't beat them, join them, right? And whenever he tried to sit somewhere else he always found himself being dragged there anyway by a certain Uzumaki. He had a panda bandage around one finger. Luckily for him he managed to squeeze enough blood from one prick, whereas, Naruto couldn't find a good spot no matter where he had to prick himself.

He wondered how much longer he was going to last in either of Sasuke's classes.

"Hey so are you guys going to the festival this weekend?" Kiba asked as he lifted his head up.

Gaara, if he were any lesser person, would have groaned. First a carnival and now a festival? Why couldn't people just make them at the same damn time?

"I'm going," Chouji said through a mouthful of food.

Shikamaru made a face at him. "I'm being forced to go by my parents. Something about family bonding. So troublesome."

"A festival?" Sai joined in on their conversation. He shoved Kiba over so he could sit next to Naruto, smiling. "I'm in if Naruto-kun's in."

All eyes turned to the blond, who blinked. He laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry guys! Not this time! I'm gonna be busy with Iruka-sensei that day!"

Gaara was relieved. He knew if Naruto went, he would somehow rope him into going. So long as Naruto didn't go he wouldn't be forced to go at all.

"Are you serious?" Kiba looked put out. He had been hoping to spend some _alone time _with Naruto.

"Yeah. Sorry!"

"Oh well." Kiba deflated and sighed.

Unbeknownst to the group of teens, two individuals were huddled behind a trashcan as they stared over at them.

"Is that him, sempai?"

"Yeah. That's him."

"So what's the plan?"

"We're gonna corner him, un."

"And how do you plan on doing that, sempai?"

"I'm gonna get him alone!"

"And how do you plan on getting him alone, sempai?"

"Damn it stop asking so many questions! Shh…He's coming over!"

The two hushed and watched like predators as Gaara walked over to the garbage, his tray of unfinished food in hand. He wasn't paying attention to where he dumped his food, therefore was unaware that it missed the canister and instead, landed on the two spies behind the garbage. Gaara set his tray on the table before heading back where the others were.

"Uh, sempai…"

_Twitch, twitch._

"It's okay, sempai! Mayonnaise and ketchup come out easily! See, look? Er…Uh it's just a _little _smear, hardly noticea—"

"I'M GOING TO _KILL_ YO—" The blond roared as he stood up, face red with rage.

His companion shot up and covered his mouth with a hand, dragging his senior down behind the garbage just as Gaara turned around with a mildly confused look.

He swore he heard something… Oh well. He returned to the table.

"Mmf kfjreaklgj jfjifeal kfdjf jfklda!!"

"Sempai! Shh! Your plan will be ruined if you're caught!"

"…Argh fine just get your damn hand off of me. Let's get outta here."

The two snuck out of the cafeteria. They were completely unaware of the strange stares the student body was sending them.

* * *

Naruto was dreading tutoring with Sasuke.

He was dreading it with a passion.

He was dreading it in a: _I'm-scared-for-my-life _kind of way.

The bastard was in one Hell of a mood ever since martial arts classes yesterday, and his mood didn't seem dampened at all during classes. Naruto highly doubted the man managed to calm down yet. Who knew what kind of torturous plots he had in mind for poor Naruto during tutoring?

But the blond bravely ventured forth towards Sasuke's class after school. He felt like he was marching to the beat of his own death.

Naruto stopped in front of Sasuke's classroom door.

_Okay. Breathe, Naruto. He can't kill you. No matter what, he can't kill you. Iruka-sensei would notice if you disappeared._

With that to comfort him, Naruto took a deep breath and entered the Devil's lair.

And there was the Devil himself, standing in the middle of his classroom, taking off his shirt – Wait, what?

"Wh-what do you think you're doing?!" Naruto spluttered as he covered his face with his book bag.

Sasuke glanced over and gave Naruto a strange look. He went ahead and took his shirt off anyway before digging through his bag for a spare one. "What does it look like? I was uncomfortable in that buttoned one. I want to wear another one."

"W-w-well… hurry up!" Naruto stammered.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You act like you've never seen a guy without a shirt before. So modest, aren't we, dobe?"

Naruto glared at him from over his bag and was about to cover his eyes again when he found himself staring at Sasuke's back. He had a very nice back, Naruto noticed – not that he was checking him out or anything – it was just that, Sasuke had a really nice back! It was all muscle-y and sinewy and _really, really ni – _Naruto banged his forehead with his bag. What was he thinking?! Who cared if his teacher had a nice back?!

"I have a shirt on now, if that's what you're worried about," Sasuke's taunting voice brought him out of his thoughts.

Naruto pulled his bag away from his face to glare at him. Sasuke was wearing a plain gray shirt compared to the buttoned-up, white collared one he wore that day for school. When seeing Sasuke smirk, Naruto looked away with a 'humph,' his face still red.

"Ready, dobe?"

"Eh?" Naruto responded smartly. He had completely forgotten why he was standing there in the first place.

"For tutoring?"

"Oh, right."

Sasuke shook his head but gestured Naruto over. He sat down at his desk and Naruto pulled up a seat next to him, setting his books and papers spread out for both of them to see. After the tenth problem Naruto solved after some probing from Sasuke, something occurred to the blond as he fiddled with his pencil.

"Umm, hey, you know you don't always have to tutor me."

"I know."

"I just, ya know, if it interferes with your days then…"

"Don't worry about it." Sasuke shrugged. "I figure keep tutoring you now, and then later you won't need as much help."

Naruto nodded in understanding. That made sense. But something else occurred to him and he pouted. "Trying to get rid of me so quickly?"

Sasuke smirked. "You bet."

"You know what? You're the meanest teacher I know."

"Why thank you, dobe."

"You're even meaner than my first grade teacher who always sneered at me whenever I was late!"

"I'll take it as a compliment. Now finish your homework."

Naruto stuck his tongue out but did as he was told. He was glad Sasuke didn't seem to be in a murderous mood anymore. But then again, the man could be bottling it all up inside only to unleash it during martial arts class… Naruto prayed that wasn't the case. When Naruto got enough problems done that Sasuke decided he knew enough to finish the rest of his homework on his own, the tutoring session was over. They packed up their things and left the classroom, Sasuke locking up after them.

"So umm, thanks again, teme, for the tutoring," Naruto found himself saying. He felt awkward for some reason.

"Hn. Whatever, dobe."

Blue eyes glanced at him shyly before averting away quickly. Naruto grinned to himself and rubbed his nose in an abashed manner, trying to hide his cheeks that he just _knew _were red. "Well, catch ya around, teme!" With a wave, Naruto ran off.

Sasuke stared after him curiously before shaking his head and leaving as well.

Naruto decided to walk home instead of catching the bus. He didn't mind that it wasn't all that warm. His body warmed up as he ran and kept running, feeling rather lightheaded for some inexplicable reason. Maybe that workout yesterday did wonders! He wasn't feeling so sore anymore, but that he could accomplish anything such as run all the way home!

"Yosh!" Naruto pumped his fist into the air.

He didn't stop running until he spotted a familiar redhead sitting at one of the park's benches. Completely breathless by now and flustered, Naruto jogged over and slumped next to Gaara, panting.

"Hey Gaara! What'cha doin' sitting here?"

Jade eyes looked at him questioningly. "Were you… running?"

"Yeah!" Naruto answered beaming. "I felt like it!"

"Aa." Gaara murmured, taking in Naruto's flustered appearance. His eyes were lit rather brightly, as was his whole face. He wondered what put the blond in such a good mood.

Naruto licked his dry lips, an action that did not go unnoticed by Gaara's observant eyes.

"So wanna walk home with me? I think I'm done running," Naruto said with a sigh.

Gaara shrugged. The blond was about to stand up, but a hand suddenly shot up and grabbed his wrist, restraining him.

"Naruto."

"Hah--?" Said boy turned to face him, but was abruptly cut off by lips pressing against his.

Cerulean eyes widened in surprise.

In his state of confusion, Gaara managed to slide a tongue along Naruto's lips and into his mouth, brushing it against Naruto's own appendage and along the back of his teeth and roof of his mouth. He pulled away with a thin trail of saliva attached to either of their lips. It broke off when Gaara ran his tongue around his mouth. Naruto's lips really did feel… pleasantly nice.

And he tasted good, too.

Naruto blinked once. And then twice, still unable to give an intelligent reaction. "Wh-what was that for?"

"Just curious," was Gaara's calm response.

"…Just curious?" Naruto repeated dazedly. He furrowed his brows before glaring. "What kind of reasoning is that? Damn bastard. Taking advantage of poor, innocent me…"

Gaara smirked and stood up, walking on ahead with his hands in his pockets and a ranting blond trailing after him.

* * *

GAH finally done with this chapter. xD SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO GET OUT. Well, I always take long to get chapters out. WHAT ELSE IS KNEW? –gets shot and dies-

(1) Displacement – involves transferring feelings about an object that causes anxiety to another object that is less threatening.

There was something else I wanted to note but… I CAN'T REMEMBER FOR THE LIFE OF ME. Oh well. But uh yeah. Was this chapter as crazy as I felt when I was writing it?! Who knows? I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED IT! OH AND THANKS FOR THE 1K. THAT'S SO AWESOOOMEE. –GIVES EVERYONE UBER AMOUNTS OF LOVE- KEEP SENDING ME LOVE K? IT INSPIRES ME.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S WITH ALL THE CAPS. AND IF YOU'RE AS BORED AS I AM, TAKE MY POLL IN MY PROFILE KBAI –WAVES-


	14. ok so maybe i'm kinda gay for you

**Things to be noted: **1) Sorry to be updating so late and 2) I went through and edited Naruto's age at the start of the school year. He starts off as _sixteen, _rather than seventeen and 3) the genre changed from **Romance/Humor **to **Romance/General**, because this fic won't _always _be funny, that I realized from writing this particular chapter.

And much thanks to the lovely Mai for beta-ing this chapter.

**welcome to yaoi high  
14. **okay so maybe I'm kinda gay (for you)

Naruto strutted down the halls of Konoha's All Boy's High School, hips swaying as he twirled his coat around. His earphones were plugged into his ear as music blasted loudly from the tiny speakers. The blond shamelessly sang to himself as he strut-danced down the hall, adding other fancy movements in the process.

"_I kissed a girl and I liked it –"_

His head bobbed up and down, and his eyes remained closed as he remained lost in his own little world, completely unaware of the pair of amused eyes staring at him.

"_The taste of her cherry chapstick,  
I kissed a girl just to try it,  
I hope my boyfriend don't mind it –"_

He crossed his ankles together before spinning around and swaying his hips from one side to the next, bending his knees to move his hips in a downward arc before snapping it back up.

"—_I don't even know your name,  
It doesn't matter --  
You're my experimental game –"_

Uchiha Sasuke stared at his student, one eyebrow raised quite high as he watched Naruto dance, utterly oblivious that Sasuke was staring. At first Naruto had started off dancing silly, jumping up and down and striking poses, but as the boy got more and more into the song, his movements became more and more… risqué. And for the life of him Sasuke could not figure out why he couldn't look _away._

"—_soft skin, red lips, so kissable –"_

If you were Sasuke, you'd ask yourself: Sasuke, why are you staring at your student's lips?

You'd convince yourself it was simply because you were curious as to that red flicker you saw – the flicker and the sight of Naruto's tongue running along his lips. You subconsciously mimic his action.

"—_so touchable – too good to deny it –"_

And your eyes follow his hands as they run down his body, to his swaying, slim waist, and –

"_I kissed a girl and I liked it!"_

And you snap out of whatever daze you were in because Uzumaki's voice is _horrible _and it totally ruins _everything._

"Dobe," Sasuke drawled.

Said Dobe remained oblivious and continued to sing (quite loudly at that). Sasuke cringed. Just as Naruto walked passed him, he grabbed the back of the boy's shirt and gave him a good tug. Naruto squawked when he was suddenly yanked backwards and forced to stumble to keep his balance. He ripped his earphones from his ears (the music still blasting – the song changed from _I Kissed A Girl _by Katy Perry to _Ass Shaker _by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus).

"What the hell?" Naruto snapped indignantly. "Did you _have _to yank me like that?"

"Well yes considering you were too busy singing at the top of your lungs, and even so you did not hear me over your blasted music when I addressed you,' Sasuke pointed out, his tone as sarcastic as ever. "Nice singing, by the way."

Naruto's ears turned red. He knew sarcasm when he heard it, and the bastard was being sarcastic! What else was new? "You didn't have to stand there and listen!" Naruto paused when another realization suddenly hit him. "How long were you standing there anyway?"

"Long enough."

Naruto's whole face turned red at that point. "So you saw me…er…you know…and…"

"Yes, I saw you dancing. You put on quite the show."

Naruto huffed and decided to let Sasuke's comment slide. This time. He turned his IPod off and stuffed his earphones in his pocket. "Did you need something, _sensei?"_

Honestly Sasuke was just curious as to what Naruto was doing at the school campus so early, but he wasn't about to ask that now. Not yet, anyway. "Hn. I need you to make some copies for me."

"Eh? But it's not even after school and I'm not in detention yet so you can't make me!"

"But I am your teacher, therefore I have more authority over you and _can _make you do it," Sasuke said simply as he turned around on his heels and stalked into his classroom. He knew Naruto would take the bait.

Naruto followed after him. "School hasn't even started yet!"

"What _are _you doing at school so early anyway?" Sasuke asked as he shifted through his papers to find what he needed Naruto to make copies of. His desk was _atrocious. _It was hard to find _anything _on it, Naruto noted with a snort. And to think Sasuke had made him fix everything only to mess it up again…

"Iruka-sensei needed to be at school early, so I came with him," Naruto replied as he dumped his bag and jacket on to a desk.

Sasuke made a noncommittal noise as he finally found what he was looking for. He peered at Naruto, who was staring at him with his arms crossed and a foot tapping, an irate look plastered on his normally carefree expression.

"...What?"

Naruto glanced pointedly at the desk, and then at him.

"...?"

Sighing irritably, Naruto glared. "Don't you know how to keep anything clean? I fixed that desk and look at how messy it is!"

"That was a while ago when you fixed it," Sasuke said in his defense.

"So?!"

"So...what?"

Naruto threw his hands up in frustration. "Never mind." He held out an expectant hand. "How many copies do you need?"

Sasuke resisted the urge to smirk triumphantly as he handed Naruto the paper. "150."

"Okay." With a mock salute, Naruto grabbed his IPod and marched out of the classroom. He switched his IPod back on (earphones on and all) and started the music from where he had previously left off (that is, when Sasuke had yanked him). He went into the office and approached the copying machine, ready to set the paper down when curiosity got the best of him. He flipped the page to the front to read what the paper said. It was lab instructions for Sasuke's Physiology classes.

_Bor_-ing.

Just as he set the machine to make 150 copies and it scanned the paper and started printing, Naruto's mind formed an idea to pass the time. A mischievous grin split across his face.

--

Later that day, Sasuke walked into his first class, which just so happened to be Physiology. The class settled down instantly when seeing their teacher walk in.

"I hope everyone prepared for today's lab," Sasuke said in a bland voice. His onyx eyes roved over his students and noticed with sadistic glee that their faces paled when he continued on: "This lab is going to count as test scores."

Collective groans rose amongst the students. Some of them could swear they witnessed Sasuke look at them like any villain would when he knew he was causing turmoil and torment in his victims. Either they saw such an expression on their teacher's face, or they knew that's what the man was feeling. Because Sasuke was downright evil. He was evil to the core.

Admittedly Sasuke did enjoy torturing his students (much more than he should be, really). He passed out the instructions to his students, giving a stack of papers to each row leader. They passed the papers back to each other while Sasuke went over to the board to write the date and such on it. He paused when he heard giggling, snickering and murmuring come from his students. That was odd...

He looked over his shoulder to see they were staring down at the assignment, some even sharing their paper with other students to point out something.

What the hell was so funny?

"What's so funny?" Sasuke turned to his class, arms crossed and a 'no nonsense' look plastered on his face.

"Uh..." One of the students at the front raised his hand. "Sensei..." It was obvious that the boy was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Yes, Fujitaka?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

Said boy momentarily faltered before he gathered enough courage to ask what everyone else was wondering. "Er...Whose ass is _this_?" He lifted up his paper -- instructions on one side -- and turned it around to show a picture of someone's _butt_, obviously having been scanned by the copying machine since it took up the whole page.

"..."

Oh fucking _Hell_ no.

"Let me see your papers," Sasuke managed to say through gritted teeth. Everyone hurried to pass their papers to the front where Sasuke collected them and started shuffling through the stack. Only some of them had an image copied to the back, and said images consisted of either an ass, what looked to be a face pressed against glass, hands, a foot, and a picture of...instant noodles. Sasuke hurried over to his desk and dug out the rest of the papers Naruto had copied and looked through them. Some of them had pictures copied to the back as well.

What the fuck.

Uzumaki was in deep shit. That was for sure.

--

"This line means you're going to have a short life," the boy said as he traced a line on Naruto's palm. The blond paled. "A _really_ short life."

Rock Lee looked at Naruto sympathetically. "You're going to die a tragic death, my friend. Enjoy your youthful life while you still can. That is my advice."

"Do you know how I'm going to die?" Naruto asked, his eyes wide.

"I do not know," Lee shook his head grimly.

"I can't believe I'm going to die. I'm too young to die," Naruto moaned, gripping his hair and pulling it. "How accurate is palm reading?"

"Very accurate!" Lee beamed proudly.

"Not accurate at all," Kiba cut in. He plopped down next to Naruto at the lunch table. "He said the same thing to me years ago. I'm still alive."

"But you're still young! You can die still!" Naruto exclaimed. "Aren't you worried?!"

The Inuzuka shrugged and took a bite of his sandwich. He didn't bother to swallow before speaking, "Nob feally."

"Shit." Something suddenly occurred to Naruto. "Of course I'm going to die. Uchiha-sensei's going to _murder_ me."

"Why would he murder you?" Shikamaru asked with a raised brow. "Unless you did something."

Naruto looked guilty.

Shikamaru sighed. "What did you do?"

"It was just for laughs!" Naruto blurted out defensively. "And I was just having some fun! And the machine had run out of paper so I didn't have anything else to use! Temptation got the best of me! It couldn't be helped!"

"What did you do?" Shikamaru repeated, this time with less patience.

Silence.

"Naruto."

"...I was having some fun with the copying machine...? Heh-heh."

"..." Shikamaru sighed. That was all he needed to know.

Naruto explained to Kiba and Lee how he had made copies of himself on to the back of Sasuke's papers without the man knowing. He'd only realize what Naruto had done until after he passed the papers out to his students and his class had a good look at them. Kiba and Lee were silent when Naruto finished explaining what he had done.

"...You're on your own." Kiba went back to eating his sandwich.

"I will go to your funeral," Lee promised.

Naruto gaped at them. "Some friends you guys are!"

The look Shikamaru gave him reminded him of Sakura, simply because he could already imagine what she would say to him given the chance: _You brought this on yourself, idiot._

Naruto bowed his head in defeat.

- - -

Going to Physiology the next day had been torture for one particular Uzumaki boy. Not only had he arrived late to class, ready to be burnt to a crisp with Sasuke's laser eyes (Naruto was convinced his teacher had such eyes, even though he never outwardly confirmed Naruto's suspicions), but things didn't happen the way the blond thought they would. Class had started along the lines of Naruto rushing to his second class of the day after their first break, cursing Kiba for making him late – so determined was the Inuzuka to beat Naruto in a card game – and at the same time fretting and counting down the seconds till his murder.

But rather than being murdered on the spot, as soon as Naruto had ripped open the door to his class, panting and out of breath from rushing, Sasuke had merely glanced at him with a quirked eyebrow and said, just as cool as his gaze: "So nice of you to join us, Uzumaki."

Naruto could only gape at his instructor for a good several seconds, obviously taken aback by this unprecedented event. Apparently there was something wrong with the universe. Or just Sasuke. He wasn't sure which.

And so, with the threat of his life no longer hanging heavily over his head, Naruto beamed and cheerily made his way over to his desk, missing the _evil _gleam in Sasuke's eyes as soon as the boy had turned his back. The class proceeded as normal from there with Sasuke taking role. Eventually the raven-haired male brought up the lab they were to do today and started to pass out the instructions. Naruto thought nothing of it, thinking his teacher had found _some _amusement in the images he took of himself before discarding them and reprinting new and more appropriate ones to distribute to the class. Perhaps Sasuke was starting to lighten up? That would explain why he hadn't exploded at Naruto.

Naruto was convinced that Sasuke had, indeed, lightened up when he was finally given his paper, being the last in his row to get it. That was when the murmurs started. And the snickering.

"I wonder if sensei realizes…?"

"Man look at _that _ass…"

"What the f--? Ramen? How random is _that?"_

Naruto blinked and lifted his head up, hearing the comments that were going on. He turned his own paper over and went pale. There, on the back of his sheet, was his face that he had copied by pressing his face flat against the machine. Did Sasuke honestly not know what was on the back of the instructions…?

Naruto looked up, horrified, just in time to see Sasuke quirk an eyebrow and flash him the quickest of smirks before the man turned his back to the class. Naruto gaped. That bastard knew -- ! And he passed the papers out on purpose! And he was purposefully acting ignorant to it all!

"It doesn't look _that _much like you, Naruto-kun! I'm sure no one can tell it's you!" Lee reassured pleasantly as he peered at Naruto's paper. He showed his image of the ramen. "This is mine."

They looked at Shikamaru, who looked rather _green _as he stared at his picture. Naruto turned red when he realized it to be a copy of his butt. At the time making those pictures was great…but now…Naruto didn't feel that great. Neither did Shikamaru, by the looks of it.

Who would have thought Physiology could be such a traumatizing class? Shikamaru flipped his paper over so it was on the instructions side, wondering what would be the best – and most effective – way of purifying his mind of the memory of that _ass _that had glared up at him a few seconds ago. Naruto's cheeks turned red and he looked at anything but the students and his own paper, sinking down in his seat, wishing desperately that the ground would swallow him whole. Why did he feel so embarrassed all of a sudden? It wasn't as if he _never _pulled a prank before, nor did the students recognize him as the culprit.

He was used to being yelled at and scolded after being caught guilty of a prank. So _this, _this _thing _that Sasuke was doing, was different; was _worse. _It was torture for Naruto and he wanted nothing more than for Sasuke to yell at him or _some_thing. The not so best part about it all was that class continued on from there with everyone doing the lab as instructed, Sasuke not commenting on the pictures, and the class snickering over them for a good while. One of the students had so boldly asked if their teacher knew what was on the papers and Sasuke merely snorted and said: "Of course. The culprit is going to receive his punishment in due time."

Naruto gulped at that.

By the time the bell rang for lunch, Naruto had already resigned himself to the inevitable. But when he heard the bell and Sasuke say, "You're all dismissed –" the blond couldn't help but jump forward at the chance to live to see another day, but Sasuke's voice quickly halted him, "—with exception to Uzumaki."

Naruto bowed his head in defeat, Lee giving him two thumbs up for good luck as he and Shikamaru trailed out after the rest of the class. Sasuke collected the lab sheets from his students while they filed out of the class. The last paper he received was from a certain Uzumaki Naruto, who made no move to follow his fellow classmates, although he looked desperately on the verge of doing so. Honestly, if Naruto looked like anything at that moment, he looked like a piece of live meat being offered to a wolf that was more than ready to devour him. But that just had way too many sexual innuendos which just wasn't safe to think about when in reference to a student.

But then again, when did Sasuke ever care about such trivial things?

"Hn. Take a seat, dobe," Sasuke said as he walked casually over to his desk, setting the papers down for him to grade later – or never, depending if they got lost as well in the never ending sea of other papers.

Naruto did as he was told while avoiding eye contact with Sasuke. He dropped his book bag to the floor and sat down, clasping his hands together and tapping the back of his heel repeatedly, a nervous habit.

"I'm not going to yell at you." Naruto looked up in surprise when he heard that. Sasuke noted that the blond was trying _extremely hard _to hold back from saying something. "If you have something to say, then just say it."

It was a good few seconds before Naruto did say something: "…Why aren't you yelling at me?" he asked cautiously. "Or getting mad at me? You got mad at me before. So has everyone else."

"That's what you want me to do, no?" Sasuke asked instead, a perfectly arched eyebrow raised. "And me not getting mad makes _you _feel worse."

That was true. And that, in itself, was worse punishment. Naruto looked sullen. "Are you _sure _you're not the devil? Or the devil incarnated or something?"

"I'm sure. That's Itachi," Sasuke replied simply.

Naruto couldn't help but snort back a laughter. "Your brother is _way _nicer than you are!"

"Everyone else seems to think so and I cannot see the reason why." The older male made a distasteful expression. "But you are getting me off topic, dobe. What you did was childish."

"It wasn't _that _childish," Naruto defended himself. "It was funny!" Okay, so maybe it was funny at the _time _he was making the pictures.

Sasuke gave him a look that said otherwise to his statement. He was leaning back on the edge of his desk, his arms crossed and a superior, condescending expression plastered on his arrogant face (well, that's how Naruto saw it, anyway). The younger male couldn't help but feel that Sasuke's stare was _belittling _him, and his insides bubbled with indignation and outrage. But he bit his lip as Sasuke started speaking, his tone as sharp and condescending as his expression: "You are in high school, Uzumaki; close enough to being an adult. You should start acting as such if you wish to be acknowledged."

It was funny how Naruto felt so _angry _all of a sudden. Who did this guy think he was? Teacher or not, he had no right to speak to him in such a way --!

"That's what you want, no? That's why you pull such childish pranks – so people will recognize you and acknowledge you." It also helped that Sasuke once had a conversation with Iruka about Naruto.

"_That boy," _Iruka had said after one of Naruto's detentions when he sprayed graffiti on school property, _"he just wants people to acknowledge him. So he acts out and speaks twice as loudly to be heard and seen more. I understand he may seem a bit much, but that's just how he is, no matter how childish and immature he may be sometimes. He wants to be seen and heard… and he's not quite sure what the best approach is. He needs to grow up and learn himself that he doesn't need to go through such drastic measures to be acknowledged."_

What Iruka said was true. But what Sasuke didn't agree with was Naruto needing to learn to grow up on his own. The blond seemed like the type to learn from things as bluntly as they come, and Sasuke was a blunt kind of fellow. "If you want people to acknowledge you, then grow up, and do it the right way."

Naruto was bristling. He stood up abruptly and glared at Sasuke with as much vehemence as he could muster. "No one asked _your _opinion, _sensei. _So go _screw yourself _because you don't even _know _me."

Sasuke watched blankly as the boy stormed out of his classroom, the door banging loudly against the wall when Naruto tore it open. Sasuke knew Naruto would be mad at him for saying such things, but he didn't think the boy would be _this _angry. Perhaps there was something else bothering him that only triggered his anger more than it normally would have? But…Sasuke didn't care. No, of course not. He just couldn't help but notice that Naruto had forgotten his book bag in his moment of outrage.

With a sigh, the young teacher grabbed Naruto's book bag and headed after his wayward student. He managed to trail after Naruto up until he saw Naruto run off school property. After that, Sasuke lagged behind, looking mildly irritated that his student had left school premises while school was still in session. The Uchiha glanced at the book bag in his hand and merely shook his head and turned on his heels, heading back to his room since he still had a class to teach after lunch.

--

The fact of the matter was, Naruto _was _upset, and it had to do with _more _than just his prank backfiring on him and what Sasuke had said to him. He knew what his teacher had said was true. Knew it so bad it hurt. But he was just so _angry _at the same time, and it had taken every single ounce of strength he could muster to act _normal _around his friends and not let this particular day affect him. He had been doing a good job of it, too, that is, until Sasuke had to go and open his big, fat, arrogant _mouth._

He didn't care that it was lunch time and school was still in session. He stormed down the halls and shoved passed people, his irritation only rising when random, faceless teenagers would get in his way. Eventually he found his way through one of the doors that led to the outside world and he bolted. The urge to run had been tugging at him since he stormed out of Sasuke's class, and now that he was free from the mass of bodies, he allowed himself to give in to his urges and just _run. _

So maybe he had overreacted a little teensy bit to what Sasuke had said to him, but his teacher's words _had _sounded condescending – which Naruto refused to tolerate. But there was also truth to the Uchiha's words. A truth that Naruto himself knew. Yes. He wanted people to acknowledge him everywhere he went. It probably stemmed from his younger days when… No. _Don't think about it. You're better off not thinking about it. Not now. Not anymore. You're over it. _So _over it._

He didn't realize he had stopped running until he noticed he was gripping his knees tightly, forcing down a panic attack before it could start. Naruto inhaled and exhaled slowly before straightening himself up when he deemed himself calm enough. He surveyed his surroundings and saw he had run all the way to the park without thinking. Naruto sat down at the bottom of a slide and laid back, one foot propped on the edge with the other hanging over. He draped an arm over his eyes to block out the brightness of the gray sky.

Sasuke was probably _pissed _at him for running off.

Oh well. He was used to getting detention for his behavior.

He rolled over on to his side with an arm underneath his head as a mock-pillow. He knew word would get back to Iruka-sensei that he ran off from school, but at the moment he found himself not to care as much as he normally would. He was feeling rather rebellious at the moment, but he didn't care about that either. Naruto had a school counselor at his previous school who had to deal with him, and the blond found himself thinking of the mid-forty year old woman who always tried to dissect Naruto like he was a _thing _whose actions could be explained. She always said he was a "troubled-youth" with a "troubled past" who "always acted out because he didn't know any other way to unleash his pent up anger and teenage angst." Teenage angst. _That _always made him laugh.

So caught up in his thoughts was Naruto that he never noticed several figures approach him until several shadows descended over his form and blocked out the gray sky. Naruto blinked when everything suddenly became shady.

"Wha--?"

- - -

Sasuke finished collecting the lab papers from the last of his students and went over to his desk, sticking said papers into a manila folder that he stuffed into his bag to grade later (hopefully, if he remembered to). Before he locked up the room he double checked the classroom to make sure his students had cleaned up their stations. Once he was satisfied with the state of the lab, he locked up the room and shoved the keys into his pockets, all of his papers in the book bag strung over his shoulder. When it came to labs, his Physiology class would always go to one of the science labs, but had his own personal classroom for Physiology and math lectures. While he had been ready to leave the school grounds, he realized he forgot some papers from his morning math class – their homework that he would have to grade.

Once he got said papers, he paused to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything else before heading out with all intentions of going home, kicking back and relaxing. Fortunately for him there were no martial arts classes tonight so for once he could laze around and catch up on some _House. _Maybe he'd even get some grading done. Fortunately for him as well, Itachi and Kisame were busy attending to some personal business in Konoha that they wouldn't be able to bother Sasuke for the rest of the afternoon. It was _such _a blessing to Sasuke that, for once since Itachi and Kisame came to town, he was actually looking forward to going home knowing that his freak brother and his freak brother's freak friend wouldn't be there waiting for him (they had the tendency to invade his home when he wasn't around. It seemed like no matter how many times he had the locks changed, they always somehow managed to find a way in).

He pushed through the doors and walked out into the faculty parking lot, but paused when he saw Umino Iruka looking around, worrying his lip and looking concerned. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Iruka-san? Is there something wrong?" Sasuke called out to him.

Iruka looked startled for a moment before smiling and waving to Sasuke. He walked over to the younger man, still glancing around as if trying to find someone. "Hey, Sasuke-san. How are you today?"

Sasuke didn't bother to answer that seeing as how Iruka was far too preoccupied with something that was obviously bothering him. "Is there something the matter, Iruka-san?"

"I, er…" The older man sighed. "I can't seem to find Naruto anywhere."

Something in Sasuke's stomach dropped. Sure he hadn't seen Naruto come back or retrieve his bag, but he figured the boy had come back and went to his last class without his stuff… But apparently he thought wrong because Iruka didn't know where his charge was.

"You wouldn't happen to have seen him, have you?" Iruka asked, looking up at Sasuke hopefully. The raven-haired male was a good head taller than Iruka.

"The last time I saw him was at lunch time," Sasuke said truthfully. His conscience told him to tell the man the _whole _truth so, with a sigh, he continued on: "Honestly, before lunch, I think I may have upset Naruto. You see, he had pulled another prank –"

"Oh did he?" Iruka's voice became stern all of a sudden, but Sasuke went on.

"But I talked to him, and what I said made him mad because he ran off… I thought he might have gone back to his last class…"

The darker man sighed. "I see… It's okay. I'm sure you didn't mean much harm when you said what you did."

Sasuke didn't say anything. Truth be told, he always said whatever he felt like, regardless of how much it may hurt someone. But he didn't want Iruka to blame him for his charge running off. If he was being honest with himself, he was wary of Iruka going into his infamous 'Mother Hen' mode that he had the tendency of jumping into whenever it concerned Naruto.

"I'm just worried about him," Iruka said, running a hand through his hair – a worried gesture. "It's…his birthday today. Naruto, he… He's never seen his birthday as a very happy day, you see. And I think it's because of that, that he may have overreacted to whatever you said and ran off."

"Ah." Okay. So Sasuke felt like an even _bigger _ass. "I'll help you find him, Iruka-san."

"No, you don't have to—"

"It's the least I can do," Sasuke interrupted. "You should go wait at home in case he turns up. If I find him I will bring him over."

"But –" Iruka didn't really have time to protest because Sasuke had turned his back and crossed the rest of the way over to his motorcycle. He swung a leg over so he was straddling the bike, maneuvering his bag so it was behind him. He pulled his helmet on while ignoring Iruka's protests. "Sasuke-san! You don't have to do this!"

"Hn." Sasuke merely grunted and put the key into the ignition, turning it on and revving his bike to life. Iruka's protests were drowned by the humming and roaring of the motorcycle. With a wave to the older man, Sasuke kicked away the stand and drove off, easily swerving through the parking lot and out to the main road. Iruka watched him disappear with a shake of his head.

"…Thank you, Sasuke-san."

Sasuke, on the other hand, was mentally scolding himself as he drove around Konoha. Could he _be _an even bigger ass? To think he had said those things not knowing what Naruto was already going through – not that anyone could _blame _him for not knowing, but still. Not to mention Iruka was a nice man and Sasuke hated to upset the man in any way. He didn't know why he felt bad in the first place, but he did and he thought he'd make it right by finding Naruto and bringing him home. He drove by the usual teenagers' favorite hangout spots: the shopping plaza, Ichiraku's, Konoha's Café, the arcade, the bookstore. He drove by Ichiraku's several times seeing as how ramen was Naruto's favorite food, but there were no signs of a blond dressed in their school's navy uniform.

He drove through practically all of Konoha and even went as far as driving through the downtown area where local pubs and clubs were. You could _never _be sure. It didn't hurt to check, anyway, and Sasuke found himself relieved that he didn't find Naruto _there. _Not that he cared what his student got up to when he was outside of classes or anything.

Sasuke was ready to give up by the time the sun was starting to set. He had been driving around for _hours _with no signs of Naruto. He came to a stop at a corner in a local housing area, pausing to pull his cell phone out of his pocket to check if Iruka called him to inform him Naruto came home (the two had exchanged numbers at the start of the year when Naruto started having detentions with Sasuke). But he had no missed calls so he could only assume Naruto was still _out _somewhere. He was about to start his motorcycle up again when he heard a yell.

"AAAH! YOU ASSHOLE!"

That voice sounded oddly like Naruto.

Sasuke climbed off his bike and set his helmet down on it, the ignition off and keys going into his pocket as he walked towards the park where he heard the yell. He stepped through a small grove of trees and was about to step out of the bush when he saw his suspicions confirmed. Naruto was, indeed, the one he heard yell. There was a group of guys standing around him. He didn't jump to conclusions right away, but he found jumping to conclusions was the right thing to do because one of them lunged at Naruto and he grabbed the bigger guy and threw him over his shoulder.

Sasuke stopped to ponder the feeling of déjà vu that suddenly washed over him before he stepped through the bushes and approached the group just as one of the guys threw a punch at the back of Naruto's head. He caught the fist calmly, his arm hardly straining as he twisted the guy's arm, forcing him to turn around as Sasuke painfully pushed it against his back.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow!"

"Tch." Sasuke snorted and opened his mouth to say something, but found himself being grabbed by the shoulder and roughly turned around, only to find Naruto _glaring _at him like he did something wrong.

"What the hell?!"

Apparently saving Naruto's ass for the second time in a row was a _bad _thing. Huh.

"Let him go you asshole!"

Sasuke turned incredulous. "And why should I?"

"Because he didn't do anything to you!"

For once in Sasuke's life, he was feeling rather stumped. "…He was attacking you?"

"We were _train_ing," Naruto said with wild gestures of his arms.

And Sasuke was supposed to know that how…?

"And I'm supposed to know that how…?"

"Argh whatever. Just let him go!" Sasuke let go of the guy's arm, said guy quickly scuttling _away _from the raven haired man as he held and rubbed his aching arm with a sour expression.

"What are you doing anyway? Training in a park?" Sasuke asked, his hands stuffed in his pockets. He felt more relaxed now that he located the boy and knew he was in one piece.

"Well, remember the guys from the carnival? This is them. They found me here after getting turned away by Gaara again, and they asked me to help train them!"

"_Why _would they want you to train them?" Sasuke drawled.

"Because I'm a perfectly good fighter!" Naruto retorted with an indignant sniff.

"Gaara-sama won't possibly acknowledge us unless we prove we've become stronger," the guy whose arm Sasuke had twisted spoke up. "And he won't come home unless we beat him to a pulp and drag him home."

Sasuke sighed. "You realize Gaara will not go back to Suna unless it is of his own volition."

"That is true…"

"But they need him there!" Naruto, ever the verbal protestor, butted right back in. "And Gaara's too stubborn and thick headed to realize that! He _belongs _in Suna!"

"And who are you to judge where Gaara belongs and doesn't belong?" Sasuke snapped. He forced himself not to say anything further when noticing the way Naruto recoiled at his words, as if he hit a sore spot. Which he probably did, knowing his insensitivity and such. Great. Good job, Sasuke. You're supposed to be consoling the boy to bring him home where his caretaker was probably fretting himself silly. You're supposed to be making up for your insensitive comments to the boy earlier, not add salt to the wounds. Sasuke sighed. "Whatever. This is none of my business. What you do is none of my concern. I am just here to bring you home."

"Eh?"

"Iruka-san's been worried sick about you since you weren't there after school."

"Oh shit! I didn't realize what time it was!" Naruto groaned as he looked at his wrist watch. He seemed to notice for the first time that evening that the sun was starting to set. "Iruka-sensei's going to _kill _me." He turned to the group of thugs with an apologetic expression. "Sorry guys. I really gotta go. Maybe we can meet up tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow we have classes," Sasuke inputted calmly.

"Er, the day after tomorrow?"

The ringleader bowed eagerly. "Thank you so much for everything, Nagato!"

"It's Naruto!" Naruto corrected, his grin twitching.

"See you tomorrow, Nobu!"

"_Na-ru-to!"_

"Bye, Norio!"

"NARUTO!"

Naruto deflated when the guys left. He bowed his head in defeat. "I give up. They're never going to get it right…" He turned to Sasuke. "I guess I should be heading home then."

"Hn." Sasuke turned on his heels and stalked back to his bike, Naruto trailing after him. The blond gaped when seeing Sasuke mount his motorcycle.

"Uh… You're taking me home on that?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Is there a problem, dobe?"

"Well, no…it's just…er… there's only one helmet?"

His teacher pulled off the backpack strapped around his shoulders (considering he took his motorcycle to school, a backpack was the easiest thing to use to carry his things to and from school). He opened it up and pulled out another helmet and tossed it to Naruto. The blond hastily caught it.

When Naruto didn't move, Sasuke scowled impatiently. "Now what?"

"I'm… hungry," Naruto admitted with an impish grin.

"…"

"Hey! I didn't eat any lunch earlier!" Naruto defended himself hotly.

"And why is that?" Sasuke asked, but he knew why without having to be told. Naruto puffed his cheeks out, looking torn between telling Sasuke why and/or telling Sasuke off. The older man sighed, a small voice that sounded suspiciously like Iruka piped in the back of his mind: _It's…his birthday today. Naruto, he… He's never seen his birthday as a very happy day, you see. _"Get on, Naruto." Sasuke pulled on his helmet.

"Eh? You're sending me home on an empty stomach? What will Iruka-sensei think?" Naruto protested.

Sasuke turned to look at him. "The sooner you get on, the sooner we can get something to eat." He pulled the visor down with a _snap._

Naruto visibly brightened up at that and quickly pulled on his own helmet, struggling a bit to do so. He eventually got it on and clambered behind Sasuke, unsure of where to put his hands. He didn't have much time to think about that when Sasuke suddenly started the bike and jerked forward, making Naruto throw his arms around Sasuke's torso simply on reflex.

"You bastard!" Naruto's curse was drowned out by the roar of the motorcycle as they sailed down the road.

It was Naruto's first time on a motorcycle, so the fact that he was clinging to Sasuke for dear life was something Naruto could overlook for now. Everything was passing by them in a blur and he was quite paranoid that he was going to go flying off if he didn't hold on to Sasuke as tight as he was holding. The bastard was also driving pretty fast, probably over the speed limit, Naruto was sure. They were going to get pulled over. They were going to get in an accident. Naruto was going to go flying off through the back window of some car. He was going to die!

"You don't have to hold on so tight, dobe," Sasuke said, his voice muffled by his helmet.

"…Aah?" Naruto pried his eyes opened and realized they had stopped. He lifted his head up to peek over Sasuke's shoulder. They were stopped at a crosswalk as pedestrians flocked across the street from opposite sides. Once the street cleared, the light turned to green, and Sasuke kicked off the ground and drove on. He smirked when Naruto gave a squawk and flung his arms around Sasuke again. Every time Sasuke switched lanes or turned, he could feel Naruto's arms tighten and tense around him. He could feel Naruto press himself even closer to Sasuke, too afraid to be left behind all of a sudden.

Sasuke's jacket wasn't zipped up, so with Naruto clinging to him and everything, the boy had his hands entangled in his shirt. One hand was fisted while the other hand was pressed against his abdomen, fingers digging into his abs, digging through the material of his shirt and against flesh. For some reason seeing those fingers entangled in his shirt sent a small thrill down his spine.

Eventually Sasuke pulled up in front of a small building. Naruto pulled off his helmet, his hair sticking up at even odder angles that made Sasuke 'hn' in amusement. Naruto pouted at that and, after literally jumping off the bike when he realized he was still clinging to Sasuke, worked to fix his hair down. He looked at the restaurant they were at and read the brightly lit sign that blinked _Clownfish. _

"Clown…fish?" Naruto read slowly, skeptically.

"It's a karaoke bar," Sasuke said, already heading in. Naruto scuttled after him.

The Clownfish was, indeed, a karaoke bar, as Naruto saw when he stepped into the small building. There was a wall made of bamboo sticks that divided the entrance from the actual dinning area and stage. A hostess, a female teenager who was obnoxiously chewing and blowing her bubble gum, was standing at the podium, looking bored of her job. She perked up when seeing Sasuke and Naruto approach and quickly bowed.

"Two? Would you like a seat at the bar?" She asked, already grabbing two menus.

Sasuke nodded and the two males followed the hostess around the bamboo sticks and into the dinning area. The place itself wasn't that big, or that crowded, and there was a lone man standing on the tiny stage singing along to _My Heart Will Go On. _While it was a karaoke bar, the _Clownfish _seemed more family-friendly, what-with its blue wallpapers and fish patterns. Only a few of the tables were occupied – one by a family of four, another by a couple, and a third table occupied by a trio of male friends that cheered their companion on the stage. To the right was a bar. Behind the bar was a large fish tank implanted into the wall that gave the bar a watery, blue lighting effect.

The hostess gestured at two seats at the bar and Naruto and Sasuke sat down, Naruto thanking the hostess as she handed them their individual menus. With a final bow, the hostess went back to her spot at the podium, no doubt to resume being bored and popping her bubble gum.

"Never knew you were the type to go to a place like this," Naruto commented with a whistle.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow, genuinely curious.

"You know." Naruto made wild hand gestures, as if that alone would explain the 'you know.' "It's just, this is so… _fishy. _And, uh, I didn't know you liked going to fishy…places?"

Sasuke snorted.

"I just see you at a more fancy place!" Naruto continued. "'Cause you're such an uptight prick and all!"

"Hn. So I've been told."

"Can I interest you two in any drinks?" The bartender asked.

"Sake."

"I'll have… orange soda!"

"Orange soda. That's so like you," Sasuke couldn't help but comment, amusement twinkling in those dark onyx eyes of his.

Naruto stuck his tongue out. "And what's _that _supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it means, dobe."

"Bastard."

"Idiot."

"Asshole."

"Dumba—" Sasuke quickly closed his mouth when he realized he was falling into the childish banter once again. "Whatever."

"You know it's okay to call people names once in a while," Naruto said matter-of-factly. "It just shows you have a side that isn't so uptight!"

"Here are your drinks," the bartender interrupted, looking amused by their conversation. He set a cup of sake in front of Sasuke and a glass of orange soda – finished with an umbrella and a hot pink straw – in front of Naruto. "Are you two ready to order or would you like more time?"

"I'm ready." Sasuke barely spared his menu a glance as he said, "I'll have _katsudon._"

"Mmmm," Naruto hummed as he scanned the menu up and down. "I think I'll just have _gyuudon._"

Thebartender nodded and took their orders down. He picked up their menus and disappeared around the back, no doubt to go into the kitchen to tell the chefs their orders. Silence settled on the teacher and student. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, as the two were already used to working together in silence when Naruto would attend after school tutoring sessions with Sasuke. It didn't seem to bother the two either that they were exactly what they were: a teacher and a student out for food. For some reason the two always had a knack of running into each other at school and outside of school, such as at the carnival when Naruto was separated from his friends.

While they waited for their food, the man at the karaoke stand finished singing another song before switching off with one of his friends. Sasuke had already finished his drink and ordered another round of sake while the familiar tune of _I Will Survive _filled the _Clownfish. _Naruto and the other occupants laughed as the man sang in an off key voice. Sasuke cringed. Considering they were in a karaoke bar, the karaoke alone should have proven frightening enough to scare Sasuke from not coming to a place like _Clownfish. _But it was the amusing entertainment of people going up there and making fools of themselves (and the good food) that made Sasuke like the _Clownfish. _There was also the rare occasion where people would sing on the karaoke machine who actually _knew _how to sing that made coming there worthwhile.

Naruto could see why Sasuke liked coming there. He seemed more content and relaxed. No one judged anyone in the _Clownfish. _Everyone minded their own business, and it seemed like an easy-going place where people could embarrass themselves and not feel actual embarrassment. Several other people came into the _Clownfish _during _I Will Survive _and _All By Myself – _two other families and an elderly couple. A few other customers came in and the karaoke bar was filled with gentle chattering.

"You know, you really shouldn't be drinking," Naruto scolded as Sasuke went on to his third sake. "You _are _the designated driver, after all."

Sasuke ignored him and raised his drink to his lips. He blinked when it was suddenly snatched from him and gaped openly at Naruto as the boy downed the drink in one go. The blond made a face and stuck his tongue out as he slammed the empty cup on the bar table.

"Gah! How can you drink that stuff?"

"You get used to it after a while," Sasuke said, a little stiff that his drink was taken from him. He signaled the bartender for another drink, but just as it was set down, Naruto took it and finished it off for him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Making sure my driver isn't too intoxicated to drive me home," Naruto replied smartly. "Iruka-sensei would have a fit if he knew you were drinking."

"Tch…" Sasuke peered closer at the boy and noticed with a smirk that there was a noticeable flush on tan cheeks. He figured it was Naruto's first time drinking any kind of alcohol for it to be affecting him so quickly. Their food arrived and the two males chorused an "Itadakimasu!" before digging into their meals.

If Sasuke were any other person, he would have asked Naruto himself why the boy had run off from school. But he wasn't another person. He was Sasuke. And because he was Sasuke, he kept his mouth shut and continued to eat his food. An Uchiha is never curious. They had no reason to be. And besides, answers always came to them, not the other way around.

"Ne, sensei. Do you ever go up and sing karaoke?" Naruto asked, his mouth filled with rice and beef.

The look Sasuke gave him was response enough.

Naruto laughed. "Why not? I bet you come here a lot, don't you? You should go and sing!"

"No," the man said gruffly. "I do not…_sing._"

"You're such a poor sport!"

"I don't see _you _up there singing."

"You know what? I think I _will _go up there." Naruto raised his nose haughtily. As soon as the next person was done with their song, Naruto marched up to the karaoke machine and went through the menu to search for a song to sing. After a minute or two he settled on something and marched on the stage and grabbed the microphone. Being on stage wasn't as nerve-wrecking as Naruto first thought. There was a single spotlight on the stage that made the rest of the bar look darker, which lessened the nerves of potential singers for they couldn't see the faces of the people in _Clownfish _that well. But spotlight or no spotlight, Naruto wasn't nervous. He had no shame after all.

"_Iijii na riyuu issai yurusu jakuhai_

_Resukyuutai mo yondeoita_

_Dakara please kiss me please kiss me,_

_All night…"_

Sasuke had braced himself for the worst – especially after hearing his student singing earlier that day in the halls. But what came out of Naruto's mouth wasn't half bad, or, well, not as bad as it was before, probably because Naruto hadn't been trying when he was at school. His voice cracked every now and then, but it wasn't so bad that it made Sasuke want to bash his head on the bar table. If Naruto just knew how to control his voice so it didn't crack or fade, he probably wouldn't be that bad of a singer, not that Sasuke would ever admit something like that to the boy (it seemed like Sasuke didn't want to admit a lot of things to Naruto, or to himself. Talk about living in a world of **denial**).

Perhaps it was because of Naruto's contagious spirit, but eventually he had other people in the bar singing along with him, particularly the group of men who were singing earlier. One of the men came up to sing with Naruto and the two shared the microphone as they looped their arms around each others' shoulders. Sometime during the song Sasuke felt his cell vibrate and he pulled it out of his pocket to see he received a text message from Iruka.

_Were u able 2 find Naruto?_

Sasuke instantly felt bad. He had forgotten to inform Iruka that he found his charge.

_I found him. he's ok. he wanted food._

Another text from Iruka arrived when the song ended:

_Typical naruto. Ok. thnk u._

(What Sasuke didn't know was that Iruka was always horrible with the texting thing. It took him about three to five minutes to figure out how to text, write a text, and send.)

Naruto joined him back at the bar just as he closed his phone and slid it back into his pocket.

"Your girlfriend checking up on you?" Naruto asked teasingly.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow – a habit Naruto was starting to get used to seeing. "And so what if she is?"

He couldn't help but notice the momentary disgruntled pout Naruto made before the blond quickly recovered and guffawed. "You're saying you have a girlfriend?"

Sasuke looked offended. "What?"

"_You _have a _girlfriend?"_

"How is that…funny?"

"Because! I bet you don't have one!"

"…So?"

Naruto laughed even harder.

Just the fact that Naruto found it funny that Sasuke could _possibly _have a girlfriend irked Sasuke. Granted, him having a girlfriend was impossible considering his sexual preference, but Naruto didn't know that. "You're so full of yourself, sensei."

It was at that moment that Sasuke felt like doing something terribly childish; something that no Uchiha would _ever _be caught doing. He felt like sticking his tongue out at Naruto. But did he? No. Of course not. He had much more dignity and pride than to resort to childish tactics. So instead he turned away from the boy (and he _so _wasn't looking sulky about _anything_).

"Aww, are you _sulking, _sensei?"

"…"

"You _are! _I didn't know a bastard like you was even capable of pouting!"

Sasuke looked even more sullen (and murderous, but he couldn't go around murdering his students so he tried to keep that part down a notch). An Uchiha doesn't… sulk. Or pout. Especially not Uchiha _Sasuke. _Sasuke was _above _sulking. He was, goddamn it!

"Aww did I hurt wittle Uchiha-sensei's ego?" Naruto asked in a baby voice as he poked his teacher's cheek. Brave, Uzumaki. He might as well go taunting a lion. Naruto quickly retracted his hand when Sasuke _growled _at him. The bastard actually _growled! _"Okay, okay, I was kidding! You can have…girlfriends. If you want. I mean, if you _prefer _girlfriends anyway. _Do _you prefer girlfriends? Maybe you like boyfriends more. Hell if I know! Whatever floats your boat, man! You can have however many girlfriends and boyfriends you want! Just stop looking at me like you want to murder me! 'Cause you know –"

"Uzumaki."

"—Eh?"

"Shut up. You're annoying."

"…" Naruto huffed. "And _you _have no tact." Naruto swiveled around in his seat so he was facing the bar table. He reached for Sasuke's sake and drank it all. Sasuke didn't comment, but after Naruto finished the drink, he took the empty cup from the boy's hand and set it down on the bar table.

"We should probably head out now."

Naruto nodded in agreement and reached into his pocket to get money for his food just as Sasuke set down several bills – enough to pay for both of their food. Naruto was going to protest but Sasuke had already grabbed his jacket and helmet and headed to the front. Naruto looked at the money and then at Sasuke and quickly grabbed his own coat and borrowed helmet before chasing after his teacher.

"Ne, ne, sensei –" Naruto called out when they were outside. Night had already settled and the streets were vacant as far as they could tell. It was chilly out at night and Naruto hugged his jacket tighter around him. "Sorry."

Sasuke stared at him blankly.

Naruto blew at his bangs. "For earlier today…when I ran out of class. I was, uh, I shouldn't have overreacted like that. And if you want to give me more detention that's totally fine because I deserve it and I shouldn't have yelled at you like I did since you're my teacher. You're still a bastard though, don't get me wrong, and I think you haven't been yelled at enough if you ask me, and anyway –"

"_Dobe," _Sasuke interrupted. "I get it."

"…Okay." Naruto's shoulders relaxed.

"You're still getting detention." Naruto gawked at his back as he turned to mount his bike and pull on his helmet.

"…Damn and I thought I'd get out of it," the boy muttered as he pulled on his own borrowed helmet and climbed behind Sasuke.

"Hey, Sasuke?" Naruto piped up before Sasuke started the bike.

"Hn."

"Thanks…for today."

"Hn."

Sasuke pulled the visor down on his helmet and kicked the stand out. Naruto quickly wrapped his arms around Sasuke's waist.

"Happy birthday, dobe."

Naruto's eyes widened behind the helmet, but he had no time to respond as Sasuke started the motorcycle and sped down the street. He smiled, and even though Sasuke couldn't hear him, he said anyway: "Thanks, bastard."

--

_Please kiss me, please kiss me  
All night…_

--

Omfg I swear this chapter just **did not want to end**. Omg. Forsrs. I was writing this like OMG END ALREADY YOU EVIL CHAPTER YOU. Oh well. I hope this long chapter makes up for the long wait in between chapters. xD But I'll be honest when I say this chapter is making me excited to write the next chapter, so hopefully the wait won't be as long as it's been, yeah?

And I know this wasn't smut but… consider this as the point where _Naruto's _feelings are starting to _really _take into effect. xD Now I just have to work on Sasuke. Omgad. They're so slow LOL. Mybad. And hey this chapter was ALL SasuNaru (without the fluffiness). So…be happy? xDD And _Broken Youth _has to be my favorite song from Naruto, especially the ending video for it. So cute xDD.

**Looking for****: **A full-time beta, who would not mind beta-ing _any _of my fics (of the naruto, sasunaru kinds). Because I realize the betas I have do have lives still (don't worry, I know my full time beta, whoever they may be, has a life as well!)… plus I have one who betas this fic, and a currently MIA beta for pride&promise. So it'd be nice to have someone for everything else I write, like my oneshots and such, and someone who…wouldn't mind beta-ing _at all _if the need should arise (unless you're busy then I would understand. I am flexible… not _physically _mind you, but you know what I mean!). Preferably someone who would _really _look at my fics and beta them to the best of their abilities, not just point out misspelled errors and the likes.

And I am also looking for any Harry Potter (of the **DMHP, DracoHarry **kind) fic recs. I am _dying _to read some good DMHP fics, _and _Zutara (ZukoKatara) fics. Soplzplz. Recs would be _omgamazing. _

**PS: **I have a lot to say in my author's note this time around. Sorry. xD I'll change my poll eventually (thank you to everyone who partakes in my random, useless polls xD) and I created a forum for advertising blogs. Check it!

**PPS: **_I Kissed A Girl _is extremely catchy.


	15. loose lips have sunk this ship

**Notes: **It's become a recurring thing for me to be apologizing to you readers, hasn't it? It seems I have been unable to break my bad habit of taking months on end to update, and for that I am truly sorry. For some reason my most popular fic is the one I have least inspiration for, but I am trying to get the inspiration back that I had for it at the beginning when it started.

And much thanks goes to **thetwistedtruth **for motivating me. If it wasn't for her…I probably would be taking longer to update. xD

Also, thanks to the lovely Mai for the beta as usual!

**Warnings: **CAPSLOCK abuse. Kinda. And kissing – oh my!

* * *

"Thanks…again," Naruto said as he handed Sasuke the helmet. The man took it and stuffed it into his backpack. After riding on the back of Sasuke's motorcycle at night, he felt chilled to the _bone. _He rubbed his arms to stay warm. "And I don't know how you knew it was my birthday but…thanks…again."

"Hn."

"I actually had fun tonight," Naruto continued. "Didn't think I could have fun with a bastard like you. It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be."

"Hn."

"And you might want to consider driving your _car _now, you know, what-with it being _fall _and all." Naruto sniffled to emphasize his point. "Hope you catch a cold or somethin'…driving me out in the chilly weather like this… But _really _even though you lack proper transportation and you're a crazy-as-hell driver, I still had an a-okay time so thanks again. I'll start being a good student…or something."

"Dobe?"

"Hmm?"

"You talk too much."

Naruto grinned. "Right. Goodnight, bastard."

"…Night." And with that said, Sasuke sped away, the sound of his motorcycle loud against the silence of the neighborhood.

**welcome to yaoi high  
15. **loose lips have sunk this ship

**SOUNDTRACK****: **_Can't be saved – _senses fail

"_Uzumaki Naruto!"_

Naruto cringed as the front door closed behind him. Iruka came storming into the living room, his expression one of fury.

"Do you have any idea how worried I've been?!"

Naruto braced himself for the impending lecture he was going to receive, but blinked in surprise when, instead, he was suddenly embraced in a bone-crushing hug. "I know you probably don't want to hear it, but… Happy birthday, Naruto."

"It's okay, Iruka-sensei," Naruto reassured as he embraced Iruka in return. "Thank you."

Iruka smiled at that. Apparently whatever time Naruto had taken for himself made him more relaxed and less likely to be upset about his birthday.

"I'm seventeen now and legal!" Naruto whooped when they unattached themselves from the hug.

Iruka rolled his eyes. "Legal or not, you still have a curfew, so you get your rear end to your room and into your bed."

"Aww but Iruka-sensei…"

"I'm kidding." Iruka reached out and ruffled Naruto's hair, a fond expression on his face. "But _I'm _going to hit the sack. Goodnight, Naruto."

Naruto bade Iruka goodnight before rushing into his own room. He remembered he left his book bag at school, but his phone he had left at home and hurried to see if Sakura had called him. He jumped on to his bed and grabbed his phone off of the shelf and, just as he predicted, Sakura had called him three times that day – once in the morning and twice earlier that afternoon. Several of his other friends from his previous school had left text messages, wishing him a happy birthday, but that was only a select few since Naruto was never one to make his birthday public knowledge (as was obvious since not even his friends at his recent school knew).

Naruto checked his voicemail first.

_First voice message:_

"_Naruto! It's Sakura! You're probably still sleeping – i-di-ot! Get up! Rise and shine! It's your birthday! I wish I could be there but I'm stuck here. Maybe I can come see you this weekend? Well, happy birthday and call me back!"_

_Next message:_

"_Oi, brat. It's me, Tsunade. __What makes you think you can ignore my phone call and not pick up when I call? I am going to tell Iruka that you are ignoring me. Happy birthday, brat."_

"_NARUTO-NII! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY NA-RU-TO-NII-CHAAAAAAN… HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOOUUU--!"_

Naruto pulled the phone at arms length from his ear and he could _still _hear the singing loud and clear from the phone. The rest of his messages were from friends wishing him a happy birthday and he closed his phone, debating on calling Sakura. She had the knack of going sleep early on certain occasions, he could never tell when it came to her. But he _really _wanted to tell her about his day because if he was being honest with himself – which he was—he _really _enjoyed his birthday more than he normally did.

And he knew it was all because of _Sasuke._

Naruto grinned to himself as he stared at his phone. He knew that Sasuke had taken him out to eat and indulged him on his birthday not simply _just _to indulge him, but also to apologize in his own way on what he said to Naruto. Otherwise, why else would Sasuke have bothered to take him out to eat? Why else would he have told him 'happy birthday'? And Sasuke didn't seem to mind having Naruto around him, so it made being around him even more okay. And while Sasuke _was _a royal asshole, it was the fact that he took Naruto somewhere that Sasuke _liked _that made Naruto grin like an idiot to himself.

He wasn't sure why but… the whole night was just great. Naruto felt relaxed around Sasuke, giddy around Sasuke; felt like he could be _himself. _And Sasuke didn't act like Naruto was a teenage-ticking-bomb ready to fall into hysterics at any given moment. He was _sure _Iruka had told Sasuke that it was his birthday, since Sasuke had mentioned Iruka had been looking for him after school, and knowing Iruka, he would have said something along the lines of Naruto's birthday not being a happy day for him. And rather than shying away from that fact and not bringing it up, Sasuke _did _bring it up. Granted, he probably didn't know the reason for Naruto's dislike for his own birthday, but Sasuke treated it just like it was meant to be treated: as Naruto's birthday, as a special day. And he made it Naruto's day in his own little Uchiha way.

…Maybe he was looking way into it, but Sasuke seemed like the type to do things for a reason. He didn't seem like the type to indulge teenage boys because they're hungry, or hunt down missing teenage boys when they run off from school. Naruto flopped down on his bed, _way _too wide awake to fall asleep, and still happy from his night out with his incredibly hot teacher—

Um. Wait. Back up.

Naruto sat up, his legs crossed Indian-style. He closed his eyes and frowned in a meditated manner.

Okay, so he _subconsciously _agreed to the fact that Sasuke is hot. What did that mean? Naruto didn't _just _subconsciously think someone was hot unless…he really meant it. And if he really meant it then… Naruto's eyes opened in horror. He quickly opened his phone and speed dialed Sakura's number. He drummed the fingers of his free hand against his knee as he waited for Sakura to pick up her phone.

When she did answer, he had to pull the phone back.

"UZUMAKI NARUTO! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL DAY? YOU WAIT UNTIL _NOW _TO CALL ME BACK? _NOW _WHEN I AM ABOUT TO GO TO SLEEP?"

"S-Sakura-chan…" Naruto laughed nervously.

"I WAS ALL WORRIED ABOUT YOU AND NOT ONCE DID YOU RETURN MY CALL EARLIER TODAY!"

"I can explain!"

"YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD EXPLANATION SO HELP ME --!"

"I think I have a crush on my teacher!" Naruto blurted out in one breath.

"…"

"…"

"…Well. I have to say, I wasn't expecting that."

Naruto sighed and laid back down on his pillow. "Yeah, I know. I mean, I _think _I do. I don't know. I've never been gay before so I can't determine signs of attraction when it comes to another guy –"

"Wait, wait, wait. So you think you have a crush on your… _male _teacher?" Sakura asked slowly, as if to make sure she was hearing correctly.

"Yeah." Naruto made a face. "I blame my school. It's all guys. And there's always guys making out and stuff and I got used to it. Like one time I walked in on these two teachers doing something like, one of their pants was down and the other was on his _knees _Sakura-chan… and I tried to see what was going on but Kiba pulled me away… said something about 'giving head.' No one's ever told me what that means."

"…" Silence. Naruto heard a banging noise and he frowned in worry.

"Sakura-chan? Are you okay?"

There was some shuffling. "Yeah, I'm okay. I was just banging my head on my phone."

"Er…why?"

"No reason," came Sakura's sweet reply. "So. Okay. Let me get this straight: you're gay now."

"I think so?"

"And you have a crush on your teacher."

"I guess."

"…Is he hot?"

"Yea – I mean, I guess."

He heard her giggle at the other end.

"And I don't think it's…me suddenly turning gay…" Naruto admitted slowly with a thoughtful frown. It was painful to admit it considering he denied it the first moment he stepped into Konoha's All Boy's school. "But… I don't think I've ever really had any particular preference? I was never put off by the idea of a guy and a guy together… and sometimes I don't care so much for girls… I don't know…" Naruto let out an explosive sigh. "I guess I swing both ways."

"Or you just so happen to swing in the way of your really hot teacher," Sakura teased.

"Maybe." Naruto smirked. "I don't know what I see in him besides the fact that he's hot. He's the bastard-teacher I always whine to you about."

"Only you would fall for a bastard-teacher."

"Hey what's that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing," she sang pleasantly. "So what made you realize you like him?"

"Well…" Naruto trailed off before blurting out everything about his day. How he had pulled a prank on Sasuke. How Sasuke got mad at him and said something that ticked Naruto off. How he ran into those thugs. How Sasuke found him. How Sasuke took him out to eat. How Sasuke had said happy birthday. How Sasuke had taken him home. How Naruto actually enjoyed his birthday. How Naruto wanted nothing more than to give his _sensei _a goodnight kiss. "—Er, I didn't mean to add that part."

Sakura laughed. "Oh Naruto. You really got it bad for him, don't you?"

"Yeah…" Naruto pouted. "But he's my _teacher, _Sakura-chan. I shouldn't have any feelings for him. It's…wrong."

"Sometimes, Naruto… sometimes you just can't help the people you fall for, you know? And I know you well enough to know you don't go falling for just _anyone, _especially not a bastard-teacher like you say he is."

"It's just…_weird… _I'm scared it won't go away."

"I can't say I see it escalating to anything more than just a crush since he _is _your teacher and all."

That was his Sakura-chan: as brutally honest as ever. Naruto nodded in agreement, but remembered she couldn't see him. "That is true. So… I don't have to worry! My crush on him will go away! And besides, the true love of my life is Sakura-chan!"

Sakura laughed.

- - -

**Two weeks later.**

"Did you hear?"

"Huh?" Naruto snapped out of his musings in order to look up at Kiba, who had an arm slung around his shoulders.

"'Bout the party this Friday."

"Oh. Yeah."

"…And?"

"And what?"

Naruto paid for his lunch and headed to the usual table. After paying for his food, Kiba quickly followed after. "Are you going?!"

"Eh," was the blond's dismissive reply as he slumped down next to Gaara. He took a bite of his pizza, completely ignorant to the gaping fish faces Kiba was making at him.

"Is that a 'eh yes' or an 'eh no'? I couldn't really tell."

"Eh." Naruto shrugged.

"…Dude what the hell is _wrong _with you?" Kiba asked skeptically. "You've been totally out of it for over a week!"

"I have not," Naruto retorted defensively. He took a vigorous bite from his lunch to emphasize his point. He looked up to see Kiba giving him a 'like-Hell-you-haven't' look. Naruto swallowed his bite. "Maybe I just have a lot on my mind!"

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Like…like… none of your business!"

Admittedly he _has _been out of it for over a week. Two weeks to be exact. Two weeks since his birthday to be even more technical. He knew the exact reason for his constant dazedness, but it was something he'd rather not admit out loud, let alone confess to any of his friends. They were sitting near enough to one of the cafeteria doors that he could hear it open and close whenever people came in and out. His mind was already wandering when the door opened and someone stepped in, and as if compelled by some invisible force, Naruto decided to look up to see _Sasuke _enter. Of all damn people – why'd it have to be the reason for his absentmindedness?

"…This totally hot senior babe from Konoha Girl's is throwin' the party…" Kiba was saying, oblivious to the fact that Naruto's attention was else where. "You know that one housing area, what's-it-called, _Black Diamond? _Have you _seen _the houses there? They're _huge! _And she's having her party in her mansion, man. We _have _to go –"

Naruto nodded absentmindedly as he took a slurp of his chocolate milk, never once taking his eyes off of his (incredibly hot) teacher. Sasuke was with Iruka and the two were getting lunch together, talking conversationally as they waited in line with other students. Naruto frowned thoughtfully. When did Bastard get so friendly with Iruka-sensei? _How _friendly were they _exactly? _

_Hmm._

"Naruto."

And _why _was Sasuke standing so _close _to Iruka-sensei?

"…Naruto…"

And surely when two people speak, they didn't need to be leaning so closely towards each other, right?

"Naruto…"

Was Sasuke paying for Iruka-sensei's food?!

'

"Naruto!"

"What?!" The blond snapped, whipping his head towards Kiba.

The brunette waved his hands defensively. "Whoa there, blondie. Just wonderin' if you realize your drink's all gone…You've been slurping it for the past two minutes straight…"

Naruto blinked at his empty carton of chocolate milk and set it down with a sigh. "…Sorry." He looked up to see Sasuke and Iruka sitting down at an empty table. Shouldn't they be eating in the teacher's lounge or something? He remembered seeing it and that place was _way _better then eating on an uncomfortable bench. Not to mention it was _away _from noisy teenagers.

And – _hey, _didn't Iruka-sensei like Kakashi-pervert? He _did _walk in on them making out one time…

Naruto suddenly smacked a palm over his face. What was wrong with him? Sure he came to terms with his crush for Sasuke but that didn't mean he had to act jealous just because he was having lunch with _Iruka _of all people. Innocent lunch.

"AUGH."

His table went silent after that. Shikamaru lifted his head up from his nap in order to peer up at Naruto, who was currently gripping strands of blond hair and trying to rip it from his head in a blatant display of frustration. He remained frozen in that position for a good fifteen seconds before he dropped his head on the table. The trays rattled from the impact.

No one asked.

* * *

"Fucking bast—ARD!" Naruto's voice reached a pitch higher when he was sent sailing through the air and into the padded matt.

Sasuke loomed over him with a smirk as the blond – muttering swear words beneath his breath – sat up while rubbing his tail bone. He shot a glare up at his instructor from his position on the matt.

"Are you honestly surprised you ended up down there?" Sasuke asked with a quirk of an eyebrow. "Maybe if you didn't rush into things head on you wouldn't always end up flying in the air, _dobe._"

"_Tch, _says you, bastard!" Naruto growled as he faked standing up before quickly crouching back down and kicking out his leg at Sasuke's feet. The raven-haired male was knocked down after Naruto swept his legs out from underneath him, a move he hadn't anticipated. Before Sasuke could possibly get up, Naruto pounced on his teacher, straddled him and pinned him down with a face-splitting grin. "Ha! Got'cha! Bet'cha didn't see _that _comin, did'ja, did'ja?"

"No," Sasuke drawled irritably. "Now get off. You're heavy."

"_Eh?! _Callin' me fat, _sensei?" _Naruto squawked indignantly. "'Cause I'll have you know I have no excess fat, _thank you very much!" _It seemed the boy was possessed to prove his point so he reached down and pulled up the jacket of his karate gi. He patted the flat expanse of his stomach and Sasuke couldn't help but look at the exposed tan skin with both eyebrows raised. Indeed the boy wasn't fat. His stomach was flat and lacked obvious muscles, but it was evident the boy worked out. Sasuke realized he was staring. He wasn't staring because he _wanted _to, of course not. He was just – um – noticing Naruto's _flat _stomach that lacked any _fat. _He was also noticing the tan flesh was _nice _as well. He was just noting it, was all.

Really.

Sasuke licked his lips.

-- Because they were dry all of a sudden. _Seriously. _And he felt… hungry. Like he could devour something. Maybe that stomach if the idiot boy didn't pull his uniform back down –

"See? See?" Naruto pointed at his belly and patted it. "No fat!"

"Idiot, I can _see," _Sasuke said, his voice sounding huskier even to his own ears. His frown deepened and he cleared his throat. "Now get _off _me. You're still heavy."

"Tch. Bastard," Naruto pouted and got off of Sasuke. He stuck out a hand for his teacher to take, to which the older man did and Naruto helped him up to his feet. "Admit it! I've improved!"

"Hm…" Sasuke looked to be contemplating what Naruto said, making the blond more flustered as he flailed his arms.

"C'mon! Even _you _have to admit it!"

The Uchiha rolled his eyes. "Right, right. You've improved." When it was apparent the blond was ready to leap in the air in victory, he continued on quickly, "_But, _you can be much better." He fixed him with hard, onyx eyes that silenced Naruto on the spot from saying anything. "You have the potential to be better than a lot of people, Uzumaki."

There was wonder on Naruto's face as his eyes widened, knowing a compliment when Sasuke gave one, because it was rare he ever said anything nice or encouraging. He beamed and flushed pleasantly up at Sasuke and grinned. "Even better than you, sensei?"

"Hn." Sasuke smirked. "Doubt that." Naruto stuck his tongue out at him.

After Sasuke finished changing into his earlier wardrobe – dark blue jeans, a navy shirt and a leather jacket – he loaded what equipment they used into the storage closet. Naruto was waiting outside of the changing room for Gaara, his duffle bag by his feet. He pulled his orange sweater over his head just as Sasuke went to a corner to get his own duffle bag. As soon as Naruto's head peeked out of the sweater, Sasuke bent over to grab his bag, and it was that scene (Sasuke bending over) that made the blond freeze as his eyes landed on Sasuke's a—uh, back pockets.

Right, back pockets. Because his back pockets were _really _interesting considering how they tightened around his a-- when he bent over like that.

Sasuke straightened himself up with his bag slung over his shoulder. Naruto quickly busied himself with pulling his sweater down, trying to fight the blush that was no doubt staining his cheeks. Ever since Naruto came to terms with his crush for his sensei, he started to notice little things about the older man that made him flustered. He tried checking out other guys the way he checked out his sensei during classes, but no other guy ever caught his eye. He even thought about the time Gaara kissed him two weeks ago, but that never did anything to him. He never felt anything in particular like he thought he was supposed to. But thinking about kissing made him wonder what it would be like to kiss _Sasuke _and that's when Naruto would put a halt to his thoughts to keep himself from turning any redder than he already was.

When he admitted to Sakura about his crush he thought he would get over it by now.

But who was he kidding? His crush had only _grown _(too bad he couldn't say that about his height…).

"Naruto," Gaara's monotone voice interrupted his musings.

Without needing any further prodding, Naruto grabbed his duffel bag and hurried after Gaara (who had slipped out of the changing room without his notice). They exchanged bows with Sasuke before taking off, Naruto casting a lingering glance over his shoulder at his teacher. So maybe he was acting like a love struck school girl. So what? Sasuke lifted his gaze and the two made eye contact for a moment. It was shattered when Naruto stuck his tongue out and quickly turned his back.

Sasuke shook his head and waited for his other students to leave so he could lock up the dojo.

Naruto glanced at Gaara from the corner of his eye as they walked through the city. He was still thinking about the kiss (and that he would like to kiss Sasuke…), and how things _hadn't _been awkward for the two. Gaara never brought it up, and Naruto shrugged it off as the redhead messing with Naruto. Which was fine with the blond.

"Gaara?"

The redhead looked at him questioningly, but Naruto didn't have to look to see Gaara's quizzical stare.

"You've…been with guys before, yeah?" Naruto asked just for the sake of asking. He knew the answer already so he ploughed on, not expecting a response: "Have you ever… really _liked _any of those people you've slept with? Like, _really, really _like?"

Gaara looked forward, looking as if he was actually thinking about the question. _Could _he say he felt any sort of emotional attachment towards those people he slept with? Any at all? He knew the answer instantly: no. He stated so.

"I see," Naruto said thoughtfully and didn't elaborate.

Gaara didn't say anything either, but something urged him to pry – to find out why Naruto was asking that of him. "…Why?"

"Huh?" Blue eyes blinked in surprise, before he smiled sheepishly. "I like someone, Gaara. At least, I think I do. I just don't know where to go from here. I've never liked a guy before, you know?"

Gaara's mouth went dry. And even though it pained him to do so – "Just…tell him?"

"I can't," Naruto whispered dejectedly. "It's more complicated than that. And, anyway, I am positive when I say he could never return my feelings."

Gaara let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Why do you say that?"

"I just know," was the vague response he received.

Gaara didn't pry any further. Eventually they passed through the busier district of the city and headed into the housing area, passing through the park along the way. Gaara tried not to wonder over who Naruto could possibly have a crush on when he never gave any indication away to liking anyone. As far as Gaara knew, Kiba was just an overprotective mutt, Shikamaru wasn't gay, Sai was too eccentric for even Naruto, and the rest of the school population Naruto wasn't interested in. So who --? Gaara blinked as he realized _what _he was thinking about. It wasn't any of his business. Gaara was _not _emotionally attached to Naruto in any way whatsoever and therefore had no reason to wonder about Naruto's love life.

This was _Gaara _we're talking about – the one as unmovable as a mountain, remember?

"Gaara –"

Naruto was whispering. Jade eyes glanced down at him to see the blond looking paranoid.

"I think someone is following us."

Now that Gaara wasn't so distracted, he realized they _were _being followed. How come he hadn't sensed it before? Oh right. He was too busy wondering about Naruto's love life. Damn it. He stopped. There was no point carrying on when they were being followed. They might as well confront whoever was stalking them. But Gaara had the suspicion it wasn't 'them' whoever it was, was stalking, but that it was _him _they were stalking. It wasn't the first time Gaara felt as if he was being followed and watched. He recalled walking home alone sometimes and someone following him then, too. But usually the person disappeared when they realized Gaara knew they were there.

This time, though, he could tell his follower was close by and that they were going to confront him this time. Gaara and Naruto waited, turning around as they did so towards the direction they could hear the footsteps coming from. Slowly but surely two people came into view. The closer they got, the more detailed they became. One was a blond-haired… something. It was really hard to tell if _it _was a man or a woman what-with their long hair and high pony-tail, yet unfeminine and rigged body. The other was a man – they think – since he wore an orange mask with only one eye hole visible. Their hair was dark and cut short in ragged spikes. They weren't so tall or powerful looking. They looked as if they could pass for high school students.

"Ne—isn't it a bit early for Halloween?" Naruto wondered aloud at the masked boy.

"Tobi likes to keep his face hidden," the masked boy – Tobi – chirped pleasantly once they were near enough. Now that they were close, Naruto could see that they were wearing the Konoha's All Boy's uniform. "Tobi does like Halloween though."

"Me too!" Naruto agreed brightly.

The other blond snorted harshly. "So childish," Deidara mocked.

"I don't think I've ever seen you two at school before," Naruto said.

"Tobi and Deidara-sempai aren't really students," Tobi said.

"Eh? Then why are you wearing the uniform?"

"Tobi and sempai are following Gaara-san!"

"Tobi, shut the fuck up, yeah?!" Deidara hollered, punching Tobi in the shoulder as he did so.

"Ow! Tobi sorry! Tobi good boy! Tobi did not intend to make sempai angry!"

"Didn't I _tell _you to keep your mouth shut? Didn't I? But do you listen? No. You _never _listen. You're such a fucking loud mouth, Tobi –"

Naruto and Gaara exchanged odd looks.

"—never _ever _listen, do you? Don't know why I got stuck with _you _anyway –"

Gaara cleared his throat and interrupted coldly: "Why are you following me." Naruto was amazed how Gaara could always make a question sound like a statement.

At that, Deidara stopped yelling at Tobi in order to turn a single blue eye – the other obscured by his blond bangs – at Gaara and grin viciously. A tongue darted out to lick his lips as he eyed Gaara up and down unabashedly. "To get rid of you, yeah. Surely you remember me?"

Gaara blinked. "…No."

Deidara turned red with outrage. "You _took _an eye from me. You damn well better remember me!"

The redhead looked thoughtful – or as thoughtful as Gaara could possibly _ever _look. "…I think you've got the wrong person."

"Don't fucking bullshit me!" Deidara growled, pointing an accusatory finger at Gaara. "Remember? Five years ago, back in Suna, there was a fighting competition and you _stabbed _me in the _fucking eye –"_

Suna? Five years ago? Fighting competition? Wha – Oh. _Oh. _Now Gaara remembered. Naruto looked positively traumatized that Deidara was missing an eye beneath those bangs, but Gaara was unfazed. "Whatever happened in that fight was not my fault. You should have been aware of the consequences."

"Tch." Deidara was grinning like a madman. It unnerved Naruto. "That's not the reason I'm here to get rid of you."

"Say what you really want to say," Gaara intoned, looking bored. "You are here to kill me. Who wants me dead this time? My father may have tried to have me killed before, but that man is already dead. So who is it? My uncle?"

Naruto felt shock like no other. His blood ran cold at Gaara's words, and he looked up at the redhead with startled blue eyes, but Gaara wasn't looking at him. He was staring dispassionately at Deidara, jade eyes narrowed and not giving his emotions away one bit. But Naruto felt sick to his stomach. Gaara's father – his own _flesh and blood – _tried to kill his own son before? And now his unclewanted him _dead? _Was that why Gaara would not go back to Suna? Was that why he left? How come no one _did _anything about it? Or maybe they did and Gaara's uncle was just after him again…but **why**?

The older blond sneered. "Maybe. It won't really matter once you are dead, yeah?"

"Are you _crazy?_" Naruto suddenly asked, rounding on Deidara. "You're still in high school and you're talking about murder --!"

Deidara looked irritated. "We're not really students, idiot. You really are a blond, yeah."

Naruto's cheeks turned red. "Shut up! At least I'm not the one sprouting nonsense about killing someone! What is wrong with you? You shouldn't take killing so lightly –"

"And you shouldn't underestimate me," Deidara said lowly, dangerously. "Do you want to know what world I come from, brat? I come from a world far beyond your pretty little head to grasp. Not everything is sunshine and daisies, yeah. You'd probably piss in your pants if I told you what I do for a living."

"_You _shouldn't underestimate _me!" _Naruto retorted indignantly. "I know more than you think! And I'm not scared! I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'll kick your ass any day!"

"I'll fucking destroy you with your friend," Deidara threatened. "I'll fucking blow you _both _up—"

"Do not threaten him," Gaara snarled. His eyes were like ice as they penetrated Deidara, cold and hard and sharp. This Gaara, Naruto realized, was a different Gaara; a Gaara whose blood hummed with the thought of fighting, whose blood thundered violently in his veins, angry that someone would _dare _to threaten Naruto.

"Tobi, stay back," Deidara said, and the masked boy did as he was told as he fell back.

Gaara took a step forward. Naruto's eyes widened as he reached for Gaara's wrist. "Gaara!"

But the redhead merely pulled his hand away. "Do not interfere."

Naruto was shocked beyond belief. Was he really going to fight this man who was threatening to _kill _him? He didn't know the blond. He didn't know what he was capable of. But what he could tell was that Deidara's threats were genuine. Who knew what was going to happen as soon as Gaara and Deidara started to fight? What if Gaara really got hurt? There was no way in Hell Naruto was going to let him fight! He reached out for Gaara's wrist again and tightly clung to it. "What do you think you're doing?! Don't fight him! He's not worth it!"

"He'll try to kill me anyway," Gaara growled, rounding angry jades on his friend.

Naruto stood his ground. "We'll report him to the police. Don't fight him, Gaara."

"He threatened you."

"I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"I'll destroy him."

"You'll get in trouble."

"Let go, Uzu—"

"Is there a problem here?"

Naruto had never been so relieved in his life to hear the Bastard's voice. All eyes turned to Uchiha Sasuke – who looked both bored and calculating as always with his hands stuffed in his pockets and his body posture one of relaxed confidence. It was a wonder to Naruto how his teacher always seemed to show up when he was in a jam. He wasn't about to complain though.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was mildly irritated. Why was it that whenever he walked into a troublesome situation, Naruto was always there, apart of the trouble? Couldn't the Idiot stay out of trouble for _once _in his life? Said Idiot should be lucky that Sasuke decided to go for a run after dropping his stuff off at his apartment otherwise who _knows _what would have happened?

"Well," Naruto started to say.

"There's no problem," Deidara interrupted smoothly. "We were just passing by. Come on, Tobi."

The orange-masked boy quickly trailed after the blond.

Naruto released his hold on Gaara's wrist with a relieved sigh.

"_Was _there a problem?" Sasuke asked, obsidian eyes trained on the redhead. Gaara didn't respond at first. Eventually he shook his head. "Uzumaki?"

"Eh? Ah, no…" Naruto mumbled.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, obviously not believing them, but choosing not to pry.

"I'll be going my own way now, Uzumaki," Gaara said in a monotone voice.

"You aren't going to –" _go after them? _was left unsaid. Naruto looked at him worriedly. Gaara sighed.

"No. Goodnight." He bowed to Sasuke before departing in the direction of his home. Naruto watched him leave while scratching the back of his head, completely disgruntled by tonight's event. He wanted to question Gaara so bad, but he figured he would leave it until tomorrow when Gaara was calmer.

Sasuke cleared his throat and Naruto suddenly realized he was alone with the man. For some reason, that unnerved him more than usual. It probably had something to do with the fact that he had the _hugest _crush on his teacher.

"Are you – er – alright?" Sasuke asked awkwardly. "What was that about anyway?"

Naruto blinked. "Yeah…" he said slowly. "And I'm really not sure. I think they might be gangsters. They threatened Gaara, but I would have kicked their asses if I had the chance to, dattebayo."

"I'm sure," Sasuke mused. "Well, come on."

"To where?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"I'm taking you home, obviously," Sasuke said nonchalantly. "Obviously with those gangsters out, it would be in your best interest to be walked home so you don't get jumped on the way. Besides, Iruka-san would not be happy to learn of your involvement with a gang, and that you walked home by yourself."

"You're not…going to tell him about this, are you?!" Naruto asked as he caught up to Sasuke.

"Maybe… Maybe not."

"Sasuke-bastard!"

* * *

The next day at school, Naruto didn't get the chance to question Gaara because he hadn't shown up at school. To say Naruto was worried was an understatement. When Gaara didn't show up for homeroom, Naruto was plagued with one bad scenario after another. What if Gaara _had _hunted down those gangsters and fought them?! What if they won?! What if Gaara was bleeding in a ditch somewhere, unable to get himself to a hospital?! What if they had him strung up by his feet and were torturing him with barbaric methods?! Oh my God they were torturing Gaara he was sure of it --!

Okay, Uzumaki, calm down. Gaara was not being tortured. He said he wouldn't go after them, and he knew Gaara was a man of his word.

But what if _they _found _him? _They never promised to Naruto they wouldn't go after Gaara! So what was stopping them for beating him to a bloody pulp and busting a cap in his head?!

Oh no they shot Gaara!

Naruto groaned as he buried his face in his hands, his mind going haywire with worry. He watched too many gangster movies, he concluded, otherwise he wouldn't be worrying so much. Gaara could take care of himself, his mind whispered. And when he saw Gaara leave, he saw Gaara head in the direction of his home. He was probably at home. Safe. A bullet not embedded in his head or strung up by his feet being tortured. He wasn't in a ditch bleeding. He was okay. He was alive.

Naruto inhaled and exhaled as he slumped back in his seat, staring blankly at the board in his second class of the day. Sasuke was lecturing about one thing or another. Normally Naruto tried his best to listen, but today he just wasn't up to it. Sasuke would have chosen such a chance to pick on Naruto but he was perceptive enough to notice Gaara hadn't shown up to school today and Naruto was probably beside himself with worry. So he left the boy alone and continued his lecture. When class ended everyone filed out, with exception to one blond student who hadn't even noticed the bell rung for lunch and was still sitting down, lost in thought.

Sasuke walked over and stopped in front of Naruto's desk, setting his palms on the surface and leaning forward. "Uzumaki," he said. No reaction. Naruto didn't even blink. "Uzumaki," he repeated, more irritable this time. When he still received no reaction, he reached a hand out and flicked the boy on the forehead. "Uzumaki!"

"Wha--?!" Naruto blinked, saw Sasuke's face _right _in front of his face, and would have fallen back and off his seat had he not caught a hold of his desk on time. "Sasuke-bastard! What the hell?! Don't _scare _me like that!"

"Hn. I did not know how else to get your attention. You were too lost in your empty head to hear me."

Naruto turned red at the insult. "Don't mock me! That's not very professional!"

"You are a special case, dobe," Sasuke drawled.

Sasuke had one palm pressed on his desk, his other hand on his hip as he was still leaning towards Naruto in a way that made the boy turn even redder from their close proximity. Naruto licked his suddenly dry lips, missing the heated stare onyx eyes sent at the action, staring almost fixatedly at that pink tongue and pout-worthy lips. For some reason he thought back to the other day when Naruto was on top of him, determined to prove he wasn't fat. Flash of tan skin flashed in his mind. Sasuke felt hot.

He straightened himself. "The bell rang. Perhaps if you hadn't been so lost in thought you would have noticed it is lunch time and everyone has left you behind."

Naruto looked around and saw to his bemusement that the class was, indeed, empty save for him and Sasuke. Naruto gathered his things at a slow, languid pace. He picked up his book bag and headed for the door, Sasuke trailing after. Neither of them were paying attention, which ended with them both trying to get through the door at the same time. Identical blushes stained their cheeks as they both jumped back from the door, Naruto stammering for Sasuke to go first, who only shook his head. Composing himself, the blond boy stepped through the door, his posture rigid as he brushed passed Sasuke.

He headed down the hall just as he heard Sasuke close his classroom door and lock it up. Naruto resisted the urge to glance back at the man as he made his way to the cafeteria where Kiba and the others were probably at.

Another day went by and still no Gaara.

On the third day it was Thursday, and Gaara hadn't shown up to school. Naruto was at the dojo for class and Kiba was talking animatedly with Tenten about a party that Naruto vaguely recalled Kiba mentioning to him before.

"So are you coming?" Kiba asked, slinging an arm around Naruto's shoulders.

"Where?" The blond blinked, snapping out of his thoughts.

"To the party!" Kiba said with exasperation. "Seriously, Naruto. What's wrong with you? You've been really spacey…"

"Nothing, nothing," Naruto said dismissively. "Where's it at again?"

"Down at Black Diamond."

"Hm… I don't know…Iruka-sensei would kill me…" Naruto crossed his arms thoughtfully.

"You don't have to tell him! Just tell him you're stayin' at my place! It's gonna be a Friday night. He can't stop you from having a sleepover with a friend, eh?"

"Maybe…" The bell jingled as someone entered the dojo. Everyone looked and Naruto visibly brightened at seeing Gaara. "Gaara!" He gave the redhead a once over, noting with satisfaction that Gaara didn't look as if he was beat up or tortured recently. He ran over to said redhead, leaving a disgruntled and scowling Inuzuka Kiba behind. "Where have you been?!"

"Taking care of some business," was Gaara's vague response.

Naruto frowned but didn't pry. Gaara wasn't one for conversation, and if he didn't have to explain himself, the blond knew not to ask. He figured if Gaara wanted to tell him, he would tell him. "Okay…"

Sasuke walked out from the locker room and class began.

* * *

Friday found Naruto at the last class of the day: Physical Education with Gai. Gai was as exuberant as ever, having initiated a race for his students. By the time class ended, the race hadn't been finished, but the majority of students altered their course back to the locker rooms to shower and get _away _from Gai as fast as humanly possible. Gaara, Naruto and Lee were the last ones still on the track, racing the last stretch of the field to see who would win. It was no surprise when Lee passed the finish line as the victor.

"LEE! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!" Gai crowed, shining with _such _pride. Quite literally.

Naruto lay sprawled on his back, staring up at the sky as he fought to regain his breath. Gaara was clutching his knees. Lee didn't look the least bit phased as he and Gai threw an arm around each other's shoulders.

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE~"

Once Naruto managed to compose himself, he grabbed Gaara's hand and high-tailed it back to the locker room, ditching the two crazed clones. As soon as they were in the locker room, they collapsed against the lockers, completely out of breath and physically exhausted from the run. Lee really was a force to be reckoned with. It was a wonder how he could run so much and still have energy after. The two teenagers stripped themselves of their clothes and made their way into the showers. The last two people left just as Gaara and Naruto entered. The stalls were only as tall as their shoulders, so Naruto could see Gaara as they started to shower.

"Hey, Gaara?"

No response.

"What did those guys want from you?"

Still no response. Naruto sighed as he washed his body, but momentarily paused when Gaara started to speak: "The blond one. I fought him before a couple of years ago. I was still a kid then. But I defeated him, and in the process he lost an eye."

Naruto returned to washing his body. "Your dad --?"

"Doesn't like me," Gaara said without missing a beat. He didn't elaborate. Naruto didn't pry. He gouged all of that just from listening to their conversation. "My father…used to make me enter these fighting tournaments," Gaara continued slowly. "I was a kid. I was…bloodthirsty. I did not mind. One day, I started to mind. I decided I did not want to listen to my father anymore, so I ran away."

"To here," Naruto added. Gaara nodded. "I see."

"I think my father hoped putting me in those tournaments would kill me," Gaara admitted in a low voice. If Naruto hadn't been listening he was sure he would have missed the comment. He felt a pang in his chest. How could his father treat his son in such a way? Especially when he was a child? It made Naruto angry, angry enough to want to beat that man himself. "Where are your parents, Naruto?"

The question took him by surprise. "…Dead."

Gaara didn't ask or say anything further, and Naruto didn't dare to break the silence, the only sounds coming from the shower heads and the boys washing their bodies. To his right he could hear Gaara turning off his water and grabbing his towel, wrapping it around his waste as he stepped out from the stall, his bare feet padding through water puddles. Naruto glanced over his shoulder to find Gaara was standing _right _in front of his stall, staring at him oddly. There weren't any curtains or doors to prevent anyone from seeing inside a person's stall. Naruto turned red as he met Gaara's gaze, noting the almost primal way the redhead was staring at him that sent shivers down his spine.

"G-Gaara? Er…why are you standing there?"

"When I kissed you before…" Gaara started to say, his tone almost thoughtful, "I did it because I wanted to…"

Naruto nodded. "Uh-huh…okay…?"

"Naruto." Gaara clenched and unclenched his fist, unable to stop as his gaze hungrily took in Naruto's wet, wet, _tanned _body. The blond could feel his own ears turn red. He wished he didn't feel so exposed to Gaara's gaze. And why was he looking at him like he wanted to eat him?! "I want to kiss you again, Naruto."

"Er – well, okay, but I'm showering right now, Gaara, and – Gaara…Gaara!"

The redhead took three confident steps forward, and Naruto didn't have time to protest as he was suddenly shoved against the cold tiles of the shower room, Gaara's hands coming up to cradle his head before it could collide against the wall. Naruto was shivering, and he realized, so was Gaara. But something told him it wasn't from the cold. Wide blue eyes stared into the hungered, jaded eyes of Gaara. It was intimidating being pinned against the bathroom wall, naked and exposed with nothing between them except Gaara's towel that was getting wet from the shower pounding down on him.

"Gaara—" Naruto gasped, clearly startled by Gaara's bold movements. But his breath was instantly stolen from him as the redhead dipped his head down and captured Naruto's lips in a fierce kiss. The last time Gaara had kissed him, it was gentle and slow. Sweet almost. This was different. This was fierce and devouring. It was demanding and… _hot. _Naruto's brain chose to malfunction at that moment, and Inner Naruto proved incapacitated, leaving Naruto in a state of utter confusion and loss. _Never _in his life had he been kissed like this. This was passion. This was lust. Want. Need. Craving.

And then Gaara started kissing him down his chin and along his neck, suckling exposed neck and collarbone here and there, making the blond utterly weak at the knees as he melted and panted and _mewled _against the much broader redhead. His toes curled when a wet tongue darted out to lap at his neck, kissing him and sucking him deliciously so. Naruto clenched and unclenched his fists, breathless and unbearably hot, unsure of what to do, his mind spinning in a haze…

It felt so good. He never felt like this before. Ever. His heart was racing in his chest as heat pooled in his stomach. Naruto vaguely wondered what it would feel like to kiss _Sasuke _and the world came crashing back down as his eyes snapped open. This was wrong. Wrong. Wrong. _Wrong. _So very _wrong. _"Gaara, wait –" he breathed, pressing his hands to Gaara's shoulders as he tried to push the bigger teen away. Frustration welled when the redhead did not relent and instead latched his lips at the junction between his neck and shoulder, suckling and licking and nipping – "Gaara!" With a mighty shove, Naruto pushed him off, finally putting distance between the two as he struggled to remain standing.

Gaara was just as flushed and breathless, the fire in his eyes sparking to one of silent outrage at being pushed away.

"Gaara…" Naruto sighed, suddenly feeling very exhausted, and angry. "I just… I can't…"

"Of course. My apologies," Gaara said stiffly, turning around to the lockers to change.

Naruto slumped back against the wall, dejected. But anger welled in his chest at Gaara's indifference. Who was he just to start kissing Naruto _again? _And then be a bastard about it when Naruto had spent the past couple of days worrying about him?! It just wasn't _fair. _Weren't they friends? Last he checked, friends didn't kiss other friends for the sake of kissing. He and Sakura never kissed like _that, _and they were best friends!

The world, Naruto decided as he finished washing himself up, didn't make sense anymore.

* * *

WHO'S READ NARUTO CHAPTER 439? OMGGGGGGG –DIES HAPPY-


	16. I'm here to suck your blood

Sorry this chapter took so long. It's been hard to write it when I've been too busy fangirling over Older!syaoran from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. Ohmygoshhes –giggledieshappy- It makes me wish to write CCS/TRC fics again…

This chapter was also a pain in the ass to write for reasons unknown to myself. Things should become easier next chapter… -cackle-

And this chapter is a Halloween!chapter. bit early, technically, but that's ok. XD me loves Halloween!

**Beta: **Mai~ thank you muchly!

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke sighed as he stood in front of the boy's locker room. In his hand was a manila folder with some papers that Jiraiya, principal of Konoha All Boy's High School, asked Sasuke to drop off at Gai's desk in the Physical Education office for the male teachers that was located in the boy's locker room. The raven-haired male could only hope the overly-eccentric man _wasn't _there. Sasuke always dreaded encounters with the strange, strange man… In the folders were progress reports of students currently partaking in sports. Gai was the Head of the Athletic Department, so all grades went to him to determine whose grades were being kept up with, and whose weren't (those with poor grades would be benched until they raised their grades).

Heaving another sigh, Sasuke pushed his way into the boy's locker room. He paused when a certain redhead student walked by, his expression one of silent, cold fury. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but the redhead completely ignored his presence as he stalked out of the locker rooms. The older man shrugged it off and passed down the rows of lockers, heading over to the office. He cautiously pushed the door open and peered inside. To his relief, it was empty and void of any spandex-wearing monstrosity. Sasuke dumped the manila folder on Gai's desk before heading out and closing the door behind him.

It was passing by a row of lockers on his way out that Sasuke noticed Uzumaki Naruto standing in front of his locker, still a bit wet from a shower. He was wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist as he rummaged in his locker for his clothes. Sasuke found himself slowing to an abrupt halt, blinking slowly at his almost-naked student. Sasuke felt himself getting rather hot as he stared at the blond, noting all the smooth, golden tan flesh that was exposed for his viewing pleasure. Blond hair was damp from his shower, strands clinging to whiskered cheeks. Naruto seemed oblivious to Sasuke's presence as he set his clothes down on the bench and reached for his towel.

It dropped to his ankles. Sasuke's eyes widened as he resisted the urge to let his gaze wander any further south. The blond turned around to get his boxers on, and it was at that moment that Sasuke caught a drop of water fall from the tip of blond hair, trail down a well-toned back, falling lower and lower to a slim waist. The Uchiha's mouth went dry as Naruto bent over to get his boxers around his ankles, giving Sasuke a lovely view of his rear end.

And _Gods _did the boy have a cute, round ass that the man wouldn't mind pounding into –

A strangled groan rose to his lips, and Sasuke quickly hurried out of the locker room before he could let such indecent thoughts continue.

Naruto turned around, his boxers secured around his waist, thinking he heard something. When he didn't see anyone or anything, the blond frowned in confusion but shrugged it off in favor of pulling the rest of his clothes on. He _swore _he heard something just a second ago…

* * *

welcome to yaoi high** – 16. I'm here to suck your blood ** – eftee

* * *

The party Kiba had been blabbering about for the past week was a costume party seeing as how it was Halloween tomorrow. Originally Naruto hadn't wanted to go, but dressing up in costume was the blond's favorite time of the year. No matter how old he got, he never tired of it. The candy was also another factor that hyped Naruto up every time Halloween came around. Usually Iruka tried to keep candy _away _from Naruto since Lord knew the blond was hyper enough _without _the added sugar, but unfortunately for the older man, Halloween was the one time of the year he _couldn't _keep candy away from his charge.

"I'll see you Sunday, 'ruka-senseeei!" Naruto called as he hurried to the front door. Kiba was outside waiting in his car to pick Naruto up.

"You have everything, right, Naruto?" Iruka called back, coming out of the kitchen and to the front door where Naruto was pulling his shoes on, a backpack slung over his shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Sakura-san will be meeting you tomorrow?"

"Yes, 'Ruka," Naruto confirmed.

"Kiba's parents know you're spending the night?"

"Yes!"

"You have your cell phone?"

"Yeah!"

Naruto got up, adjusting the tie of his black cloak. He flashed Iruka a cheeky grin, showing off the fake, elongated canines in his mouth. He was wearing black slacks and polished, black dress shoes, as well as a black vest over a collared, buttoned white shirt. The cloak was fasted around its neck, the collar of said cloak propped up. Its edges were curled and pointed. He was a vampire for Halloween – or more specifically 'Count Dracula.' While he used clothes he already had, the added accessories such as the cloak and fake fangs were things he bought last week when he went costume shopping with Kiba, Lee, Shikamaru and Chouji.

"Alright then…" Iruka sighed, smiling. "Have fun."

"Okay!" With a practiced, exaggerated bow, Naruto turned around – cloak billowing and all – and stepped out of the house. "See ya, 'Ruka!"

Naruto ran over to the car and hopped into the back. Shikamaru was already sitting in the front with Kiba, and as Naruto got in, he saw Chouji in the back as well.

"Hey, Naurto!" Chouji greeted, already munching on some candy. Naruto laughed as he took the sight of the boy in his costume. He was a pumpkin for Halloween, and a hat with the pumpkin stem was sitting on top of his head.

"Cute costume, Chouji!"

Chouji just grinned, plopping a tootsie roll into his mouth. Naruto already knew what Kiba and Shikamaru were without having to fully see them since they went costume shopping together. It took a lot of persuading to get Shikamaru to be a samurai, since originally Shikamaru wanted to be 'Shikamaru' because, according to the lazy boy, it was 'too troublesome to be anything else.' But they managed to get him to buy the costume, but him actually _wearing _it was another thing all together. But Naruto was pleasantly surprised that Shikamaru was wearing his costume. Kiba was 'Frankenstein's monster' – his face and exposed neck and hands painted a sickly green with fake bolts attached to his neck and forehead.

It was already dark when they set out to the party. Naruto was texting Sakura the whole way there.

_Wut r u 4 halloween?_

_Dracula~ wat bout u?_

_LOL alice in wonderland._

_Awwe so cute sakurachaan :3! well we r heer now! ill c u tmrw!_

_kk. have fun naru!_

Kiba pulled into the 'Black Diamond' housing community – a housing area where they _never _go into considering it was full of large houses that the 'rich people' lived in. It was Naruto's first time in that part of Konoha, since the only places he ever bothered to go was school, home, or downtown. It didn't take long to spot the house (if you could call the three-story building a _house) _the party was taking place at. There were a few people loitering outside, and it was the only house with the front door opened as music blared loudly from it. It was a wonder the party was still going on with the amount of noise that was emitting from said building.

The pathway leading up to the house was lit with jack-o-lanterns, and other decorations were scattered around the front lawn – fake tombstones, skeletons, other pumpkins with carved faces. The four teenagers walked up the path and entered the house. If Naruto thought the outside was big, the inside was jaw-dropping. It was like entering a ball room, albeit smaller, with the two upper floors circling overhead and an open, spacious 'dance floor' at the heart of it. People were gathered at the center, dancing along with the music, others standing to the side socializing as they drank. Party favors were along the long tables set to the sides. As Naruto observed them he spotted an assortment of candy, each one of some grotesque-appearance (eyeball candies, spider-shaped gummies, and the drink in the punch bowl looking like blood).

The other decorations inside were _awesome, _Naruto decided as he continued to admire _everything. _There was a coffin propped up on a nearby wall that, every time someone walked by, it would pop open and a Dracula dummy would pop out saying, _"I am Dracula, here to suck your blood!" _A projector plaid somewhere from the top to make it look like ghosts were dancing around the room, and somewhere a boom box played the recordings of booming thunder, a door creaking and a heart beating. Every now and then the lights would flash to mimic that of lightning. Along the walls were large paintings of people walking to their death. It was pretty dark inside the house with exception to the decorative lights and flashes of white that gave the place an eerie glow.

While Shikamaru continued to look bored, Chouji busied himself with the candy, and Kiba and Naruto looked at each other with equally excited and awed grins.

"This is so…" Kiba started to say.

"Awesome!" Naruto finished for him.

Sure Naruto's been to parties before in the past with Sakura, but none of them ever compared to _this!_

Naruto loved Halloween!

* * *

Sasuke _hated _Halloween.

Technically speaking, Halloween wasn't until tomorrow, but that didn't stop those hoodlum teenagers from egging and throwing toilet paper all over his precious baby.

And by 'precious baby' he meant his _car._

There were also kids who liked to play 'ding dong ditch.' It was strange that they would come to someone's apartment to do it, so he figured it was the kids that lived in his complex. _Stupid kids, _Sasuke thought with a scowl as he tore his front door open, already knowing without having to see that there wouldn't be anyone there. It didn't matter though since he was heading out, his keys in hand, his black coat on, and a scarf wrapped around his neck. While it wasn't winter yet, it was still fall, and it was usually chilly starting the end of October.

He was going to get his car washed and then visit that no good Hatake Kakashi who _insisted _Sasuke came by tonight… Not that Sasuke really _wanted _to. _"Just for a quiet dinner, Saaaasuke-kun! I want you to meet my new boyfriend~" _the man had said. It _better _be a quiet dinner, Sasuke thought with a scowl.

Sasuke had known Kakashi his whole life. It was because of Kakashi that Sasuke ended up at Konoha teaching (but with his credentials and past education, Sasuke could have gotten in with or without Kakashi, they both knew). The silver-haired man was a friend of the Uchiha family for _years, _even before Sasuke was born. Ever since his parents' death, Kakashi was like the father Sasuke and Itachi didn't have.

When Sasuke's car was clean of any egg shells and yolk, Sasuke drove through Konoha, passing by the school as he headed further south. The further he went, the larger the houses became. It wasn't long before he was driving through Black Diamond, passing by a house where a party was no doubt going on and heading two blocks further before he pulled up in front of a two story building. The house was ridiculously big for a single man to live in alone, but the house had sentimental value to Kakashi since that was the house he grew up in.

With a sigh, Sasuke reluctantly got out of his car, walked up to the front door, and knocked. Two seconds later the door opened to reveal a beaming Kakashi.

"Saasuke-kun!" Kakashi sang pleasantly, eyes curved. "So nice of you to join us~! Prompt as usual, I see."

The young man rolled his eyes and stepped in, taking his shoes off at the front before heading to the living room with Kakashi.

"You'll love my cute little dolphin," Kakashi boasted unabashedly. "He's smart, adorable, sexy, sweet…"

Sasuke wasn't really listening. When Kakashi tended to drone on and on about something, Sasuke _never _listened. He especially never listened when it came to Kakashi talking about his latest conquests. He felt sorry for whoever fell for this idiot.

"Maybe you two already know each other since he's also a teacher at school," Kakashi said thoughtfully. "Well…" He made a grand gesture as they entered the living room, where several people were seated, talking (he recognized them as teachers from school). Sasuke's brow twitched at the sight. "Look, everyone! It's Sasuke!"

So much for a quiet dinner…

"Yo, Sasuke."

Sasuke nodded in greeting to Sarutobi Asuma, another teacher and friend of Kakashi's that Sasuke knew since he was younger. There were other teachers there that Sasuke knew from working – Maito Gai (_"HELLO MY YOUNG FRIEND. LOOKING LIVELY AS ALWAYS, I SEE!"_), Yuhi Kurenai, Mitarashi Anko, and several others whose names Sasuke forgot.

"Coming through!" Umino Iruka suddenly came out of the kitchen, carrying several trays of snacks that he set on the coffee table for everyone to have. He smiled pleasantly when seeing Sasuke. "Oh, hello Sasuke-san! I see you finally made it."

"So you two _do _know each other!" Kakashi butted in happily. He pulled Iruka into his arms, causing the tanned man to blush and scowl. "Isn't my little dolphin the cutest thing _ever?_"

It took a moment for the implications to register in Sasuke's brain. For some reason his mind wasn't functioning as speedily as it should be, probably because he was a bit taken aback. "_You're _Kakashi's boyfriend?"

"Eh… guilty as charged."

The young male scratched his head. "What is someone as respectable as you doing going out with this undignified old pervert?"

Iruka laughed at that as Kakashi pouted.

"Always so mean, Sasuke…"

"I wonder the same thing myself."

"Ouch. You too, 'Ruka-chan?!"

* * *

"This is _your _party?" Naruto asked, gaping.

The girl blushed. "Y-yes…"

Hyuuga Hinata was her name. She was a pretty little thing dressed up as a cat for Halloween. Cat ears were perched on her dark blue locks, her nose painted pink, and whiskers marked across her pale, yet flushed cheeks. She was wearing a tight black leotard with a tail attached at the back. Her eyes were her most notable feature, considering how pale and milky they looked. But it reminded him of someone…

"Aah! Are you Neji's sister?" Naruto asked, thinking back to one of his fellow classmates from the dojo.

"N-Neji-niisan is my cousin," the shy girl stammered.

"Haha I see!" Naruto grinned, his beam making the girl's eyes widen. "You two seem so different! I don't really talk to Neji but…he seems so quiet and uptight!"

"Neji-niisan i-is n-nice once gi-given the chance…" Hinata said softly, feet shuffling. "He i-is here a-as w-well…"

"Na—you stammer a lot," Naruto pointed out. "It's cute!"

The girl turned redder, if possible.

"Hey, hey! Are you okay? You're turning really red!" Naruto said worriedly.

"Eek…" She squeaked, looking like she was about to faint then and there. This boy – Uzumaki Naruto, as Kiba had introduced him – was so _cute! _And his smile was so bright, and his eyes so genuine she thought her heart would burst out any moment from her chest! She covered her face with her hands as she shyly peeked at the blond boy through her fingers. His cuteness would surely be the death of her…

Kiba laughed at Hinata's antics. He always had the biggest crush on her… "Hinata goes to Konoha's All Girl's School."

"Aah…" Naruto nodded in understanding. "You must be rich to have this big house!"

"Mm," Hinata nodded, pulling her hands away from her face. "M-my father o-o-owns Hyuuga Industries."

"Eeh…" the blond scratched his head thoughtfully. "Never heard of it!"

Hinata looked genuinely surprised as Kiba gaped at him like he grew another head. "Are you serious?! Hyuuga Industries is like, only _the _leading technology company! They're as famous as Uchiha Corps!"

Naruto wrinkled his nose. "I guess Uchiha Corps is supposed to be famous too? Does that mean Uchiha-sensei is rich or whatever?"

Kiba smacked his palm to his forehead. "Dumbass. Sasuke's brother, Uchiha Itachi, owns the company!"

"How was I supposed to know that?! No one tells me anything!"

Hinata giggled as Naruto pouted indignantly. _Kyaah he's too cute!_

"Well, I think we should leave this dunce, and Hinata-chan should come dance with me before your evil cousin pops out of nowhere," Kiba said, throwing an arm around the girl's shoulders.

"D-d-dance?" she stammered, her expression one of horror.

"Don't worry, Hinata-chan! I'm sure you're a great dancer!" Naruto encouraged when seeing her expression.

Kiba nodded in agreement. "You promised me a dance, remember?"

"I-I-I did?"

"Yup!"

"O-okay…since I promised…"

With a wink to Naruto, Kiba led the girl to the crowd. Naruto shook his head, already knowing Kiba was just saying that to persuade Hinata to dance with him. _So manipulative to someone who's so sweet like Hinata-chan, _Naruto thought. He didn't have time to dwell over it though when he was suddenly bombarded by flashing white teeth.

"NARUTO-KUN!"

"GAH! LEE!" Naruto jumped; startled by Lee's abrupt appearance (he was Bruce Lee for Halloween).

"ISN'T THIS PARTY LIVELY AND FUN?" Lee asked enthusiastically, posing his 'Good Guy' pose. "I think, to liven it up even more, we should have a contest!"

"I'm in!"

Round one was a game of 'bobbing-for-apples.' With their hands tied behind their backs, the two boys took their positions over their individual buckets filled with water and apples. With a bored, uninterested signal from Shikamaru, Naruto and Lee ducked their heads in their buckets and mouthed for the apples. A crowd started to gather around as they cheered them on. Once the minute was up, Shikamaru counted the apples the two had managed to get before raising Lee's arm up.

"Round one goes to…Lee," Shikamaru drawled in a monotone.

The next round was a game of who could eat the most pumpkin pie (with their hands tied behind their backs, of course). And so, with their faces smashed in pie, Lee and Naruto ate away at the pie with much gusto. Eventually all the pie started to get to Lee's stomach and the boy had to force himself to stop. Shikamaru held Naruto's hand victoriously in the air.

"Round two, Naruto."

"It seems we are tied," Lee said after their faces were cleaned of pie.

"So it seems," Naruto said, the two boys having a stand down.

"How shall we decide who will be victorious?" Lee asked seriously.

"I am not sure…" Naruto said just as seriously.

"DRINKING CONTEST!" was the enthused suggestion (from Kiba).

Somewhere, Hyuuga Neji felt a foreboding shiver travel up his spine.

Just as enthused encouragement came from the crowd watching the contest, and the two boys stood over a long row of cups lined out from them that were filled with the 'juice' from the punch bowl. Shikamaru glanced at his watch, waited three seconds and then gave the motion. "Start."

Cup after cup disappeared as Lee and Naruto went down the row from opposite ends of the table, emptying the contents of each cup down their throats. By the third drink Naruto realized he was starting to feel warm and giddy. He didn't know what was in the juice, but he was starting to feel _really _warm and good! By Lee's fifth drink, the contest was completely forgotten and hence a victor could not be decided, because he started to sing drunkenly as he knocked the cups down, spilling its contents along the table.

"LET US SETTLE THIS *HICC* THE OLD FASHIONED WAY!" Lee exclaimed.

"AND WHAT *HIC* WAY IS THAT? *HIC*" Naruto asked, his cheeks as equally flushed as Lee's.

"DRUNKEN STYLE FIGHTING!" the bowl-haired boy leapt into a fighting position, his feet stumbling as he tried to remain still.

"Oh shit," Kiba muttered.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed.

"Go, Dickless," Sai suddenly appeared, cheering Naruto on.

"Where'd you come from?!" Kiba demanded, startled.

Sai smiled at him. "I've been here the whole time."

And then Naruto and Lee started to fight – if you could call it that. They missed each other by a mile as Naruto was distracted by the dummy-Dracula that popped out at him (_"SOMEONE SAVE ME HE'S GOING TO DRINK MY BLOOD!") _and Lee went about trying to fight anyone within sight. Fortunately for all the furniture that could be saved (as well as the party goers), Neji intercepted the drunken Lee and dragged him _away _(_"NEJI, MY ETERNAL RIVAL, THERE ARE EVIL NINJAS ABOUT. WE MUST TAKE THEM DOWN!")_

"Get 'im off get 'im off get 'im off!" Naruto flailed around as the dummy-Dracula hung all over him.

Hinata giggled as she extracted the dummy off of Naruto and pushed it back into the coffin. "Th-there you g-g-go—eep!" She was red from the neck up as Naruto wrapped his arms around her like a leech.

"Thank you Hinata-chan! You're a…a…" He made a face. "Like the candy…"

"L-lifesaver?"

"Yes! Lifesaver!" He nodded in exaggeration. "Hinata-chan, you're so cute! I hope you don't mind that I call you Hinata-chan. That juice we drank made me feel funny and now I am warm all over and I feel really light. I think if I let go of you right now, I'll go floating off to the ceiling!"

She giggled nervously. "I-I think s-s-someone spiked the j-juice, N-Naruto-kun… I hope you don't mind me calling you that."

"Heeehe, of course not!" _Disturbia _by Rihanna started to play over the speakers. "Oohh I love this song! Come dance with me, Hinata-chan!"

Before the girl could even protest, Naruto dragged her out to the dance floor.

* * *

Sasuke knew he would regret coming to Kakashi's house. 'A quiet dinner' was the furthest thing from what _this _was. The older adults were ridiculously drunk over sake, and they were singing karaoke at broken tunes. But even though he was surrounded by a bunch of drunken buffoons, Sasuke thought it wasn't _so _bad since he had Iruka – the only other sane one there after himself – to keep him company.

"So you and Kakashi have known each other for a while then?" Iruka surmised.

Sasuke nodded. "Knowing him so long… it makes me curious how he managed to persuade _you _to go out with him."

"Aah…" Iruka blushed at that. He wasn't about to admit it was Kakashi's skills in bed that got to him first. That was too embarrassing! "Kakashi isn't so bad."

"No, I suppose not," Sasuke agreed, twirling his cup of sake before taking a sip of it.

"Kakashi has told me a lot about you," Iruka admitted.

The younger male snorted. "I am not surprised. That old pervert doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut, apparently."

Iruka smiled. "He is only interested in what benefits _you, _Sasuke-san."

"Hn… Just like you are only interested in what benefits Uzumaki, no?"

"Aah." The brunette nodded. "Naruto is to me, what you are to Kakashi. I can tell. Kakashi cares for you and your brother very much." There was a companionable silence as they watched Kakashi and Anko sing _My Heart Will Go On. _"I never did thank you properly for bringing Naruto home on his birthday, did I?"

"You shouldn't have to. It is partially my fault he ran off in the first place," Sasuke admitted reluctantly. "I said something… that was unprofessional of me."

Iruka, if anything, was an understanding person. "I suppose you said something Naruto did not want to hear. He reacts rashly when he hears things he does not wish to hear, but deep down he knows they are true."

Thinking back to that day reminded Sasuke that Naruto didn't like his birthday. Naruto was always happy, Sasuke believed, so why would someone so happy hate their own birthday so much? And the way Naruto had burst out at Sasuke that day… He was morbidly curious as to why Naruto hated his own birthday, but refused to ask the boy himself, since his reasons were no doubt private. It wasn't like Sasuke to wonder about anyone and the skeletons in their closet, but even so, he couldn't help but ask Iruka then and there, "Iruka-san, excuse me for asking. You don't have to answer if it's too personal, but why—"

"—does that boy hate his birthday so much?" Iruka finished patiently. Sasuke nodded.

There was another – heavier – moment of silence that Sasuke figured the question was too personal to inquire about in the first place. He took the silence as an indicator that Iruka wasn't going to answer his question, but then the brunette started to speak, "You were probably too young to really remember that day, all those years ago, here in Konoha… You see, Naruto and I were originally from this place. Back then, seventeen years ago, a disease plagued Konoha. You've heard of it, haven't you? The disease they called 'Kyuubi.' It drove the victims mad with delirium before they died… sometimes people killed themselves before they could die, so overcome with madness they were.

"Naruto had the misfortune of being born when 'Kyuubi' first hit Konoha. People thought he was nothing more than a demon child who brought the devil's madness into their home. But there wasn't much anyone could do about it. The disease lasted for a year before it eventually died out again."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Iruka's explanation. He couldn't recall that time of his life very well, since at the time he had been about five or six, but he did remember his parents taking him and Itachi away to live elsewhere before they returned to Konoha a year and a half later.

"Five years later… 'Kyuubi' came back, but on a much smaller scale. Do you remember the story of the Namikaze couple?"

Sasuke furrowed his brows in thought. He vaguely remembered hearing about them in the news, and from his parents, who had known the 'Namikaze couple.' "They… killed each other, didn't they?"

Iruka nodded gravely. "Namikaze Minato and his wife, Namikaze Kushina, maiden name Uzumaki Kushina, had come down with the 'Kyuubi.' They were so overcome with madness, they didn't know right from wrong, and they killed each other…"

Sasuke was starting to wish he had never been curious, that he had never asked. He felt bile rise in his throat as Iruka turned haunted eyes to him and whispered, "in front of their own child."

With trembling fingers, the young Uchiha took his cup of sake, raised it to his lips, and downed the rest of its contents. Sake, Sasuke decided, always made things more bearable to deal with. Iruka blinked, suddenly snapping out of his stupor that he no doubt had fallen into as he recalled the past. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to babble like that. I really shouldn't have told you." Iruka sighed, looking guilty.

Sasuke shook his head, years of Uchiha manners grilled into his mind allowing him to remain collected. "I shouldn't have asked," he said, frowning deeply. To think Naruto had such a troubled past… Of all things Sasuke did, he went ahead and let his curiosity get the best of him – something _no _proper Uchiha ever would do. He didn't even know the boy very well, and yet there he was, inquiring about his past that shouldn't be a concern to Sasuke. But even he, who was usually unmoved by many things, was troubled by what Iruka revealed to him that night.

"Somehow, I think it's okay that I told you," Iruka amended with a smile. "Because even though Naruto complains about you a lot, I believe deep down, he actually respects you very much. You're one of the few people who really get that boy. I think knowing his past will help you to understand him more."

"Hn." At the mechanical nod, Iruka's smile turned sad.

"It makes you wonder though, how he can smile so much, ne?"

Sasuke pursed his lips in silent agreement.

"A few months after the incident I became Naruto's legal guardian. I took him away from Konoha, away from the press, the media, the cruel people… so he could start a new life. For the most part, Naruto blocked out that part of his life from his mind completely. It's natural. He was young, he was traumatized. It was a defense mechanism. But it helped him to move on. The place we lived before we moved here was a new start for him. He made friends. He was able to heal. It's because he has friends that Naruto can smile today and say 'I am happy.'

"Originally, when I had the job offer here, I was going to refuse it. But Naruto persuaded me to try it out, so we drove down here before we made our decision. It seemed Konoha had changed over the past couple of years. We didn't look at it as the same place we used to live. It's livelier, larger, more open. I thought moving back here would make him remember… but Naruto is still 'Naruto.' He still keeps up that wall that blocks what happened, but he is strong to have wanted to come back here. He doesn't regret doing so. He is happy with the new friends he made here, and I am happy for him."

The Uchiha relaxed at Iruka's consoling words. Sasuke never made it a habit of getting along with people, but there was something about the older male that made it impossible for anyone _not _to feel relaxed when in his presence.

"What's with this tense atmosphere?" Kakashi suddenly popped out of nowhere, slinging an arm around Iruka's shoulders. "You should be singing with us on the karaoke machine!"

"I think not," Sasuke scoffed.

Kakashi pouted. "Always such a spoil sport, Sasuke-kun. Well, I am going to whisk my cute little dolphin away. I worry you are trying to steal my boyfriend!"

Iruka rolled his eyes as Sasuke let out a snort.

"I am not wasted enough to make a fool out of myself as I attempt to sing," Iruka reprimanded, swatting his silver-haired lover aside. "You may continue to do so, of course, Kakashi."

"I think I shall then!" With a wet smack to Iruka's cheek, Kakashi trotted back to the rest of the group.

The scarred man let out an exasperated groan. "That man…"

* * *

The rest of the night went by without any further hitch (much thanks to Neji's ever foreboding presence looming around _anyone _who got, in anyway, out of control). The 'juice' Naruto drank managed to wear off as the night went on, but he indulged himself on candy so even with the 'juice' out of his system, he was still hyped up on sugar. The party itself went on until three in the morning when people started to pass out around the place. Neji, of course, roused them all up and kicked everyone out; making sure not a single soul was left in the Hyuuga mansion by the time he was through getting everyone out.

When Naruto and Kiba made it back to Kiba's house that night, they promptly passed out in their costumes. They didn't wake up till later in the afternoon, had a big 'breakfast' compliments of Kiba's mother, and Naruto proceeded to watch and laugh as Kiba wrestled with his dog, Akamaru, and his older sister, before the two boys fixed themselves up – still in costume – and headed out again to pick Sakura up from the train station.

As soon as he spotted his pink haired friend – wearing a blue dress, white apron, and black bow tied around her head – Naruto snuck up on her from behind. While he _could _have just called her name to get her attention, he thought it would be more fun to scare her. And so, with half of his face covered by his cloak, Naruto lowered his voice to a husky level as he said with a fake accent: "Hello my pretty. I am Count Dracula, here to suck your bloo—OW!"

The next thing Naruto knew, he was lying flat on his back, staring in disorientation at the sky. Sakura's face suddenly came into view, looking both apologetic and huffy. "Naruto you idiot! Don't scare me like that!"

Kiba, who had witnessed the whole thing, was beside himself with laughter. Even when they were all gathered in his car and he was maneuvering through traffic the boy was _still _laughing. Naruto sulked in the front passenger seat. Sometimes the blond forgot his sweet Sakura-chan was a member of the same dojo he had been apart of back at his previous hometown. Sometimes it also escaped him that his sweet Sakura-chan packed moves that weren't so sweet at all.

"You shouldn't have snuck up on me like that," Sakura chided from the back seat.

"Don't worry. I don't plan on doing it ever again," Naruto grumbled.

Kiba laughed some more. "It was awesome, though!"

"Shut it, dog breath," Naruto scowled menacingly – or at least, as 'menacingly' as was capable for him. "Anyway, Sakura, this is dog breath. Dog breath, Sakura-chan."

"Inuzuka Kiba," the brunette introduced himself with a roguish grin flashed at her through the rear-view mirror. "Naruto wasn't kidding when he said you had pink hair! Is it natural?!"

Sakura flushed. "Of course it is!"

"No shit!"

"I wish you could have come last night!" Naruto interrupted. "Hinata-chan's party was so fun!"

She made a face at the reminder. "I _wish _I could have come. My mom wouldn't let me since it wasn't a 'weekend.' Ugh."

Naruto plowed into a detailed description of everything about the party – from the decorations and to the contest with Lee. They spent the rest of the afternoon at Kiba's place playing video games and talking before they met up with the others for lunch at Ichiraku (Iruka took pity on Naruto and allowed the boy to eat ramen again). It was there Sakura had the (mis)fortune of meeting Lee once again, as well as their other friends – Shikamaru (who was lazy), Chouji (who ate a lot), Sai (who called her Ugly and earned a well deserved punch in the face), Shino (who was silent, and a bit upset he had been forgotten for a while), Neji (no comment), and Hinata (who was very sweet).

They spent the remainder of their afternoon eating and chitchatting at Ichiraku. Sakura found it was easy to be comfortable around Naruto's friends. The way everyone talked made it sound as if everyone knew each other their whole lives. It pleased Naruto to see Sakura talking so familiarly with his friends. And even though he just met Hinata last night, he found it was easy to get along with her as well (much easier than it was to get along with her stoic cousin). Sakura and Hinata hit it off very well. The fact that they were the only two females in their group made them stick closer to each other.

The sun was setting as the group walked through Konoha like the group of rowdy teenagers they were. Children and their parents – as well as older kids – were out trick-or-treating then. Naruto and Kiba raced from house to house to see who could get the most candy with Chouji and Sai following shortly behind, and Shikamaru, Neji and Shino reluctantly tagging along. Sakura and Hinata were walking side by side, Sakura gossiping for the most part with the shy girl adding a comment in every now and then.

After a few blocks of knocking on doors and getting candy, Naruto and Kiba slowed down to compare the amount of candy they have.

"I totally have more than you!" Naruto insisted.

"No you don't! I have like, _way _more!" Kiba rebutted.

"Pfft. You WISH you did!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I'm kind of tired of going door to door… we should… go to a haunted house or something!"

"A h-h-ha-haunted h-h-house?" Hinata stammered, going pale.

"That sounds like a good idea!" Naruto agreed, brightening up at the suggestion.

They stopped at a few 'haunted houses' that people had put together. Unfortunately none of them were scary – with exception to one particular house where someone chased poor Hinata in a clown costume. Neji proceeded to chase down the man in the clown costume and beat him to a bloody pulp. It was hilarious, Naruto decided.

After that they went trick-or-treating in the richer areas since, according to Kiba, the people gave out more candy, which proved true. It was knocking at a certain door that they come across someone – or, well, _two _familiar someone's.

"Boo," Kakashi greeted, looking pleased to see familiar faces of some of his students.

"Eeh? Kakashi-pervert? You live here?" Naruto asked, gaping at the silver-haired man who was dressed as a scarecrow for Halloween (how fitting).

"Haiii~" he chirped, scanning the group of teenagers amusedly. There was Naruto in his vampire costume. Shikamaru the samurai. Chouji the pumpkin. A pink haired girl who was probably Alice in Wonderland. The strange kid Sai as… _something, _Kakashi wasn't sure (for Halloween Sai was dressed as Ichimaru Gin from _Bleach). _Kiba the monster. An upperclassman that Kakashi recognized as a Hyuuga (he wasn't dressed as anything), and another girl who was probably a Hyuuga as well, dressed as a cat.

He started to dump candy in their bags. "Here you go everyone!"

"…you forgot me," a silent voice said, and Kakashi noticed Shino for the first time (who was supposed to be a Jedi).

"Hehe my bad!" He gave Shino candy as well.

Shino sighed, displeased. Why was he always so unnoticed and forgotten?!

"Naa—Ruka-chan! It's our cute students!" Kakashi suddenly called.

Said brunette suddenly appeared at Kakashi's side. Naruto gaped. "Iruka! What are you doing at Kakashi-pervert's house?!"

"Er…" the man had the grace to blush and stammer incomprehensively before whipping out a camera. "N-nothing! Let me take a picture of everyone! You all look so cute!"

And before anyone could _really _prepare themselves, there was a flash as Iruka took a picture of them gathered at the front porch of Kakashi's house. "Well, carry along, children! Ruka-chan and I must get back to doing adult things!" Kakashi sang as he ushered them away and slammed the front door closed without further ado.

"Hinata-sama, we should return home now," Neji said, turning to his cousin.

"Y-yes, Neji-niisan," she agreed. They turned to the group, Hinata smiling. "I had fun tonight," she said shyly. "I am sure Neji-niisan had fun as well, even if he won't admit it."

"Aaw isn't it too early to go home?!" Kiba asked, looking disappointed.

"Hinata-sama's father came home earlier this afternoon. He would be most displeased if she stayed out any later," Neji stated.

"Well, okay…See you around, Hinata?" Kiba gave her a hopeful look.

She beamed at him. "Yes! Bye, Kiba-kun. Everyone. It was nice to meet you, Sakura-san."

"You, too!" the rosette waved as she watched the Hyuuga cousins walk away.

"You know," Kiba said as they started to walk again, "there's this old rundown hospital here in Konoha that's supposedly haunted… the places we went to were nothing…"

"An actual haunted place?" Sakura asked slowly, interest piqued. Even the other boys seemed interested.

"Yeah!" Kiba said confidently. "No one dares to go there, but those who do say they hear _things _in there, and other paranormal shit. Like one time some guy went in to get his ball 'cause he was playin' with some friends and it got kicked in there. He went through the front doors, got his ball, and when he turned around to leave, the doors just shut. Bam. He couldn't open them, nor could his friends. His friends went to get help… and when help finally came, the kid wasn't around anymore. He disappeared. Just like that. No one ever found his body after."

There was silence.

"…So where's this hospital at?" Naruto asked, grinning. He liked to think of himself as fearless – but then again, what teenager didn't consider their self invincible?

"How come the hospital was never taken down?" Sakura asked as they followed Kiba. It was completely dark outside, and the part of Konoha they were at was vacant of other souls. The further they went, the quieter it seemed to be. Eventually they found themselves passing through a grove of trees, the ground becoming soft and moist with grass.

"Not really sure," Kiba responded with a shrug. "Probably out of respect for the dead that haunt it."

"Where are we?" Sakura asked, having to squint because it was so dark.

"We're walking through the cemetery."

"WHAT?!"

"Not scared, are you, pinkie?"

"NO…'course not…" she lowered her voice in a mutter, moving closer to Naruto who flashed a reassuring grin. "Just surprised is all. And don't call me that, dog breath."

"Ouch. I see you've taken up Naruto's nickname."

"It fits."

"You're both just mean."

Walking through the cemetery was creepy, both Naruto and Sakura could agree on that. Even Kiba thought so as he hastily made his way through the empty cemetery – with exception to them, and the dead buried beneath the ground. When they stopped talking it became unbearably silent, not to mention the temperature had dropped the moment the sun lowered. The only people who didn't seem effected were Shino and Sai. Shikamaru looked like he'd rather be somewhere else – preferably his _bed._

A cold wind howled. An owl hooted somewhere in the distance. Dried leaves scattered along the cemetery grounds as the winds passed through. Somewhere up ahead, the sounds of creaking, rusted iron ominously cracked through the mostly silent air. Sakura jumped at the sound, her hands automatically searching for Naruto's. She glanced at her blond friend to find his brows twisted uncertainly as he worried his bottom lip. Perhaps going to this 'haunted hospital' wasn't a good idea after all?

"Maybe we should go back…" Sakura voiced her thoughts aloud.

"Backing out, huh?" Kiba asked. The tremble in his voice was a dead giveaway that he was sharing her same thoughts.

"Who said anything about backing out, eh, dog breath?" Naruto asked, laughing nervously. "I ain't scared of no…g-g-gho…ghosts…"

"Y-you're practically pissing in your p-pants!" Kiba pointed out smugly, stammering.

"And you're stammering!"

"S-s-so?!"

"I knew this was troublesome," Shikamaru muttered, rubbing his temples. "How about we just _look _at the hospital and then leave?"

"Why? Scared, Shika?" Naruto taunted.

"You shouldn't be so hypocritical, Naruto, when your knees look ready to buckle," Shino commented quietly.

And indeed, Naruto's knees were trembling so hard he thought they were going to give way. He pulled his cloak tighter around himself to hide them.

"I think we should do what Shikamaru said," Sakura said.

"Fine…" Kiba agreed, turning around with a silent sigh of relief.

Kiba and Naruto, Sakura thought, were two sides of the same coin. Even though they were too prideful to admit things aloud that may hurt their male ego, they were still able to admit it to themselves, at least. Not to mention they were both brash and were known for their 'act-first-talk-later' attitude. No wonder Naruto and Kiba got along so well. They were alike in so many ways. If Sakura hadn't known any better she would think the two boys were brothers. But seeing them interact together for a day, the rosette girl had the distinct impression a certain brunette saw Naruto as _more _than just a brotherly figure – if his earlier gestures of putting an arm around Naruto's shoulders, his flirtatious grins and less than proper comments were any indication.

She also couldn't help but remember how, back at Ichiraku when Sai attempted to feed Naruto (much to Naruto's displeasure), Kiba had taken the chopsticks from Sai's grasp and snapped them in half. After that both brunettes were locked in a fierce stare (Kiba glaring and Sai smirking challengingly). Much to Sakura's surprise, Naruto seemed used to their interaction and went on chattering with everyone else as if nothing was amiss. Sakura couldn't help but grin giddily to herself at the competitive stare Sai and Kiba had engaged in. Was it her or were the two boys competing for her naïve friend's affection?

"Na, Naruto, if you're scared you can hold on to _me, _you know," Kiba suddenly said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at Naruto as he glanced at his and Sakura's linked hands.

"Pfft," Naruto snorted. "And why would I go on and do that when I have to protect my Sakura-chan?!"

"But who's gonna protect you, eh, Naruto?!"

"I don't need protecting, dog breath!"

"The mutt would run off with his tail tucked between his legs should a dangerous situation arise," Sai said with his fake smile plastered on his face. "Naruto-kun would be safer with me."

"You wanna bet?!"

"I think I'll just stick with Shikamaru and Shino, thank you very much!" Naruto decided for the both of them, wondering _why _they always had to act so competitive over him. It was ridiculous! They acted as if he were some… some _woman _who couldn't fend for himself when he knew how to fight _very _well!

Sakura gripped Naruto's arm tighter and held him in place as everyone went ahead of them. She started to walk, but at a much slower place, ignoring the blond's confused look as she lowered her voice to a whisper, "You know, Naruto, I think they have a crush on you."

"EH?!"

"Yeah… they're totally fighting over you!"

"N-no way!" Naruto waved his hands dismissively, a blush plastered on his cheeks. "I mean…Kiba's a total pervert, but Sai's so antisocial and doesn't understand human emotions so there's no _way!"_

"Well, I am a woman, and my intuition says so, so you have to trust a woman's intuition!" Sakura insisted confidently. "But, I know you don't like either of them, and I don't think that will affect your friendship with either of them. You're easy to love whether you realize it or not. And besides! I know who your heart belongs to. That teacher of yours! He must be really sexy, ne?"

"I…I guess…" he agreed reluctantly. "Not that anything will ever come of it…so… so…yeah!"

"There are plenty of fish in the sea!"

Naruto laughed. "That's so corny, Sakura-chan!"

She flushed. "But it's true!"

They slowed to a stop when they realized the others had stopped as well. It was then they realized they came to the source of the creaking iron – two large gates that had long since rusted, were hanging off its hinges, swaying every now and then every time a wind brushed by. A large brick wall and the iron gates separated the cemetery from the rundown building on the other side. It looked like something out of a horror movie.

It was at least five stories tall. Weeds and vines had entangled around the building, but the front lawn was pretty kept, surprisingly. A few windows were broken, and several others had iron bars perched on the outside. The painting had long since deteriorated away, leaving the building a sickly gray color. The trees were taller around the old hospital as well, shading it to make it appear darker and more ominous.

"Well…it doesn't look _too _harmful…" Sakura joked uncertainly.

"Heh… yeah…" Naruto nudged Kiba. "Dare you to knock on the front door. See if anyone's home."

"No way!" Kiba replied quickly. "You do it!"

"I dared you to first!" Naruto retorted, his eyes scanning the building out of morbid curiosity. Just looking at the building struck fear into his very being. "It makes you wonder though, doesn't it? Why this hospital is haunted…"

"Yeah…"

Shikamaru sighed. "Nothing's going to happen if we just stand here. Let's just turn around and leave now."

"Sounds like a good idea," Sakura mumbled, turning around to follow after Shikamaru, Shino and Sai.

"Mm…" Naruto hummed his agreement and was about to turn around when something caught his attention. His eyes widened and his heart started to race when he saw the shape of a figure appear at one of the windows. It felt like a bucket full of ice was dumped in his stomach, his body shutting down as he abruptly stopped moving, suddenly too scared. "G-guys…"

"Naruto?" Sakura stopped to look at him worriedly. "What's wrong?"

He lifted a trembling finger to point, going pale. "Th…there's… there's _someone at the window."_

"Naruto…" Sakura's tone was warning. "Don't joke about something like that, okay?"

"I'm serious!" For the life of him he couldn't tear his gaze away. The building was supposed to be abandoned, wasn't it? So why was there a figure standing at the window? Even though he couldn't see the figure's features, he knew it was staring _right at him _and that scared him the most. "It's right there!"

"You're creeping me out," she whispered, but looked, gaze fearful and uncertain.

"It's gone now…" Naruto said shakily. Everyone was silent, the atmosphere too tense for them to talk.

_BAM!_

They jumped when a harsh wind sent one of the gates bouncing off the brick wall.

"Shit. Let's get the fuck out of here," Kiba muttered.

But they froze when the sound of leaves cracking sounded heavily in the air – as sharp and clear as a gunshot. They turned slowly to see a dark figure heading towards them from the side of the hospital, their footsteps slow and heavy.

"What're you kids doin' here?" it asked in a gruff voice.

"…"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Not bothering to wait for the figure to make itself known, the teenagers turned around and high tailed it out of there (Sai and Shino being the only exception to screaming).

The figure stepped out into a patch of moonlight, illuminating him as an elderly man dressed in overalls with a rake in his hand. He scratched his head as he watched the kids run off. Kids these days, scared of a harmless gardener… It was laughable!

* * *

**TBC.**

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Silly kids. XD

There is a lot I wanted to say, but now that I've come to the end of the chapter, I can't remember for the life of me! And unfortunately there was no SasuNaru interaction But, hey, at least we found out about Naruto's past, eh?… What's with the haunted hospital? And what's with Gaara not being around? Curious indeed! Maybe he just didn't want to be caught dead dressing up for Halloween? Teeehe.

**Note: There is a poll in my profile**, and no it's not some random silly thing this time. xD I would appreciate it if you guys went ahead and answered it. The question is **"Should I put yakuza & pridepromise on hold until yaoi high is done? Perhaps updates might be faster this way..."**


	17. denial is too troublesome

**To My Readers: **So the past two-three years of working on this fic has been a rather bumpy road writing it. I know you're all thinking this is starting to sound like one of those A/N's that authors leave at the last chapter, but don't worry! This story is still far from over. I'm just saying this because my intentions at the start of this fic… were none, really. I didn't have a plan. I just thought: this will be a pointless, fun, sexy fic full of sexy things. I suppose I accomplished the 'fun,' just not the 'sexy'!

Unfortunately my lack of planning is rather obvious after 17 chapters of pure… crack, I guess. What I'm trying to say is, I am very grateful to everyone who has honestly and genuinely enjoyed reading the chapters up until now, because while nothing particularly _interesting _has happened, I did write this hoping to make people laugh and smile and enjoy themselves. And for those of you who stuck with me since the beginning with hardly any SasuNaru, I thank you all very much.

So… I like to think, after several chapters of building Sasunaru interactions, that I am finally going somewhere with this fic, with the _SasuNaru; _that everything is finally coming into place_. _The patience of you readers astounds me. I feel very grateful.

**PS: **Since Naruto and Gaara had their shower scene, I thought Sasuke deserved one too.

**Warning(s): **A tad bit OOC-ness, but _blame it on the a-a-a-a-alcohol_

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welcome to yaoi high – **17. denial is too troublesome **- eftee

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"…Are you even listening?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah…" Naruto mumbled distractedly. Once more he came to school early with Iruka and ran into Sasuke. Since he was early and had a few questions on his math homework, he decided to bother the young teacher. Unfortunately his mind kept drifting off at random intervals – particularly to the memory of the haunted hospital. He could still remember the sight of the figure that appeared at the window. It was far too creepy for him to forget so easily. And because he couldn't forget such a creepy sight, he was plagued with nightmares of the figure suddenly leaping out the window to strangle him with bright, red eyes. Naruto shuddered.

Sasuke sighed. "Well, school is about to start anyway," he said, turning to his wayward student.

"Ne, sensei –" Naruto started to say, turning to face the older man as well, when blues met onyx and Naruto suddenly realized how close they were. The question he was going to ask instantly died on his lips as his mind chose that moment to malfunction.

It was also at that moment that Sasuke realized several things as well. Firstly, Naruto's eyes were impossibly bright and blue. Secondly, Naruto was very close. Thirdly, he was bombarded with images of the boy changing in the locker room. Fourthly, he recalled what Iruka told him of the boy's past, and it made him wonder how, even with such a dark past, the boy's eyes were so open and bright. It made him want to grab Naruto, shake him, tear him open if only to find out where Naruto kept all that pain hidden; dissect him to better understand how he could be so happy, so smiley, so fucking, unbearably _bright _all the damn time. The fact that Naruto was so honest and yet so closed off at the same time made Sasuke want to know the _real _Naruto.

Was the Naruto who interacted with his friends real? Was the Naruto who constantly taunted and provoked Sasuke real? Was the boy sitting in front of him, with wide, blue, _blue _eyes real? Probably. But there were other sides to this boy, Sasuke knew. He knew deep down, there was anger and pain, and he wanted to _see _that; to understand it.

At the back of his mind, Sasuke knew he wanted to do more than just understand what was inside Naruto's mind, if the constant image of a naked and wet Naruto popping into his mind was any indication. The fact that Iruka had trusted him to tell him about Naruto's past made him wonder what the man would do if he learned of Sasuke's indecent thoughts towards his young charge who was no doubt like a son to him.

He was always too aware of things. He saw the pink muscle in Naruto's mouth dart out to lick dry, chapped lips, and suddenly Sasuke's mouth went dry as well. They were close enough that if Sasuke just tilted his head a little further their lips would meet. It would be a quick kiss, just to satisfy his curiosity. He wondered what the boy would taste like. Ramen, maybe, since Naruto liked ramen so much. Would he feel the same jolt he felt when they made eye contact? Hopefully. Perhaps it would be more _electrifying…_

"Aa…" Naruto stammered out unintelligently, obviously trying to remember what he was going to ask in the first place. His lips opened and closed repeatedly, leaving Sasuke with the insatiable urge to shove his tongue down that idiot dobe's mouth.

And then reality came slamming back on to Sasuke. This was his _student – _who Iruka obviously trusted him around – that he was thinking indecent thoughts about! It was wrong! Wrong in _so _many ways! Gritting his teeth, the man quickly turned his head away, effectively breaking whatever spell the two were in. He cursed himself for his stupidity as he stood up and pushed the desk back into its proper position, lined properly with the other desks. The bell rang, signaling the start of school. "Get to class, Uzumaki."

"O-oh… yeah!" Naruto quickly gathered all of his papers, stuffed them into his bag and practically ran out of the classroom and to his homeroom; his cheeks flushed an embarrassingly bright red. What the hell had just happened back there?! One minute he was going to ask his teacher something, and the next he couldn't even speak, let alone think properly! As he slowed down to a walk, Naruto found his heart was racing erratically in his chest. He wasn't sure if it was from running, or from the close proximity he was in with Sasuke. Inner Naruto decided to point out it had absolutely nothing to do with running since he hadn't been running that long. Stupid voice. It needed to go away.

_It looked like…for a moment there… that he was going to kiss me, _Naruto couldn't help but think as he remembered how close they had been, how smoldering Sasuke's eyes were, how nice it would have been to close the gap between them. "…Gah! What am I thinking?!" he burst out, grabbing blond locks and shaking his head vigorously. Sure he admitted to his crush on his teacher, but that didn't mean he should encourage himself further by thinking such bad thoughts! Sasuke kissing him would never happen! Not even in his wildest dreams!

Naruto dropped his hands from his head, his shoulders sagging in defeat as he sighed. He lifted his head to continue on to class when he realized he had stopped in the middle of a crowded hallway and that people were currently staring at him strangely. He turned redder – if possible – and quickly hurried to homeroom before he could embarrass himself further.

Naruto ran into homeroom, but faltered momentarily as he made his way to his seat. Gaara was there, sitting at the back corner, staring at the window with his usual blank, indifferent expression on his face. Naruto hadn't seen the other boy since Friday when he practically violated him in the shower. He wondered why he hadn't seen Gaara at the party or for Halloween, but deep down, Naruto had been relieved. He didn't want to reenact their last encounter at all, thanks.

It was _convenient _that Gaara didn't go to the party, or with them when they went trick-or-treating. But now, almost three days later, there was the devil himself, sitting as if he had no care in the world (_"As if he hadn't violated me!" _Inner Naruto roared with a shake of his fist, demanding righteous revenge_). _Naruto pursed his lips, wanting nothing more than to take said righteous revenge by slamming his fist into that emotionless face. Maybe _then _he'd get a reaction out of Gaara… With a sigh, the blond reluctantly trudged his way along the front of the class and down the row, pointedly keeping his gaze down as he finally made it to his seat and sat down.

He could feel Gaara's eyes boring into the back of his head.

Naruto frowned when his sensitive ears picked up the sounds of shifting from behind, and then tensed when he could _feel _Gaara lean over his own desk, closer to Naruto. A warm breath ghosted over his earlobe and neck from behind and Naruto resisted the urge to shiver. "We need to talk."

"Like _hell –" _Naruto muttered angrily.

"At lunch. On the rooftop."

"_No—"_

"Naruto."

"…fine," he acquiesced reluctantly. Naruto managed to relax when he heard Gaara give a satisfied grunt as he slid back in his seat. _We need to talk, _should have been Naruto's line, the blond thought grumpily. And since when did Gaara ever want to talk to anyone? Perhaps he should bring Shikamaru with him… just in case… No. He didn't want to appear weak in front of the redhead. If the need should arise, Naruto _would _fight Gaara. The blond sighed at the thought. He felt silly for thinking Gaara as _dangerous, _when the boy didn't physically _harm _him in the shower. Deep down Naruto knew Gaara meant no harm, that Gaara just didn't _understand _what was allowed and what wasn't. He wasn't one for words or heartfelt confessions, so by kissing Naruto, Naruto figured that was him explaining what words couldn't.

Regardless, his actions weren't acceptable. Gaara needed to learn that and by the _Gods _Naruto was going to drill that into his hormone-driven mind, dattebayo!

Ten minutes after the second bell rang, Kakashi came sauntering into class as cheerful as ever. Speaking of Kakashi and Iruka, Naruto had a bone to pick with those two as well! Why was Iruka at that pervert's place before?! The last time he saw them together, Kakashi was violating Iruka! What if that pervert was violating Iruka in his house again?!

Without realizing it, Naruto was doodling away in his notebook, drawing violent pictures of Kakashi and Gaara being strangled (Gaara) or trampled to death by a horde of cows (Kakashi).

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The first half of the day went by too fast for Naruto's liking. The next thing he knew it was lunchtime and he was standing on the rooftop of the school building (were they even allowed up there?). He spotted Gaara standing where the metal fence was, his fingers looped through the links as his other hand was tucked in his pocket. He was slouched over the slightest bit, jade eyes trained on something, or nothing, it was hard to tell. The sound of the door closing pulled the redhead out of his musings and he turned ever so slightly to face the blond.

Naruto was wearing his jacket since it was chilly outside, but Gaara wasn't. He didn't seem fazed by the cold wind that played with his hair and rustled his clothes. Naruto looked a bit irritated by that revelation. How was it that Gaara could remain unfazed by anything and everything?

"Listen buddy," Naruto started, taking a defensive position as he readied himself to Kung-fu Gaara to the moon if he tried anything funny. His eyes were narrowed suspiciously. "Can't say I exactly trust you at the moment…"

The redhead student raised his hand in a pacifying gesture, saying solemnly: "I swear I am not here to engage in… invigorating actions with you."

Naruto gaped. _More like sexual harassment you jackass!_ "_With? _You make it sound as if it was consensual!"

"I am just here to talk. I give you my word."

The blond continued to eye him suspiciously before grudgingly giving in. "Fine. Then talk."

Gaara nodded and gestured Naruto over, sitting on a large, box-like structure. He reluctantly walked over and plopped himself down on the hard floor. He was sitting so his back was leaning against the box, Gaara facing one direction as he himself faced another. Naruto pulled out his bento box in order to eat his lunch that he had prepared for himself earlier that morning rather than buying lunch at school. The nightmare he had woke him up exceptionally early so he wasn't rushing to school for the first time that year.

Mostly out of politeness than anything else, Naruto offered Gaara some of his lunch, but the redhead shook his head in negative (because really, Naruto may be nice and all, but he was rather greedy when it came to his food). As Naruto dived into his food, Gaara dived into some sort of explanation, obviously out of practice in speaking long paragraphs.

"That night you were with me… when those two guys dressed as students confronted me," he said, "you were… unintentionally dragged into this mess." His voice was low, hardly a murmur, as he talked. Naruto paused with food sticking out of his mouth so he could tilt his head questioningly at Gaara. "It could have happened to anyone. But you were with me that night, and because they saw you, they'll associate you with me. Perhaps they'll even try to come after you to get to me."

Naruto gulped his food down loudly. "What…do you mean? What exactly _are _you involved in?"

"My father was the Kazekage of Suna," Gaara explained. "When I was younger, he used to abuse me and my siblings—" Naruto choked on his food as he gaped wide-eyed at Gaara but the boy plowed on, voice mechanical, "Him and my mother did. They hated us, and yet gave birth to us anyway. I killed my mother –" Naruto pounded his fist against his chest to get oxygen flowing, "because I couldn't take it anymore. After, my father would try to have me killed by putting me in fights…as I got older, he grew more desperate and hired assassins. I suppose he worried I would overtake him one day as Kage.

"But then I ran away here… to Konoha. A few years ago I received word that my father was assassinated. My uncle is the current Kage. Knowing my uncle, he had my father killed. He always wanted the position as Kage. But I did not care. I washed myself of Suna, broke ties with that place, with my siblings. I wanted nothing to do with that place anymore… and then _those guys… _my… 'friends,' I suppose you could say, showed up, demanding me to return. And next thing I know I am being confronted by those two, the blond one and the masked one."

Naruto stopped eating in order to stare at Gaara. He paused in his explanation, still not used to saying more than a sentence, before he continued, "After the confrontation, I went to find those guys – Not the ones who tried to kill me but my, ahh… _friends. _I wanted answers. I found out my uncle wanted me dead. Apparently he shares the same sentiment as my father that I am dangerous to his position as Kage, seeing as how my siblings or myself are the rightful heir as the next Kage. But it also made me wonder about my siblings… Kankuro and Temari. If he's after me, did that mean he got to them? No. They told me Temari and Kankuro are still alive, but that they ran from Suna as well when it became apparent our uncle was trying to take them out.

"They are here, in Konoha, as well. I met with them. I also spent this past weekend…with them." He didn't elaborate further on the topic of his siblings after that. Naruto understood now why Gaara had disappeared for a few days. There was silence as Naruto stared unseeingly at his food, before Gaara spoke again, "…I thought it would benefit you to know the truth, seeing as how guys like the blond and masked ones are dangerous. They are ruthless killers, Naruto. They will use whatever means necessary to take down their target. And since you were with me when they confronted me, they will no doubt associate you with me."

"Killers?" Naruto repeated numbly. It sounded so surreal, farfetched and preposterous, but Naruto knew Gaara wouldn't over exaggerate, nor would he lie. And when he met the blond man and the masked one, Naruto's instincts told him those two were dangerous. He just never realized _how _dangerous. "…I see. Thanks, for warning me then, Gaara. But I'll kick their asses if I ever run into them!"

Gaara closed his eyes, a barely perceptible smirk tugged faintly at his lips. Naruto was taking the situation more lightly than he thought he would, but then again, this was _Naruto _he was talking about. He shouldn't be surprised. There was a more comfortable silence that hung between them as several black birds fluttered by. Naruto watched them take off into the gray sky.

"…What are you going to do now?"

"With my uncle after me, I can't return to Suna…" Gaara said, "…at least not yet."

Naruto smiled at that. So Gaara was considering returning to Suna after all.

"The upcoming fighting tournament… there are others like them. They will no doubt participate in the tournament after me and my siblings challenged them." Naruto gaped at him.

"Can you really do that?"

"We already did. So the tournament has turned into something more now… if we win, my siblings and myself can return to Suna unharmed. From there I will probably exercise my right as the heir since Kankuro and Temari have no interest in the position as Kage."

"And… if we lose?"

"…Losing is not an option."

"…" Naruto stared at the jade eyes gazing back at him steadfastly. With a jerky nod, Naruto's lips split into a wide grin. "No, it isn't! We'll definitely win!"

There was conviction in Naruto's smile; determination in his eyes. It made Gaara want to believe for once in his life. _To believe in someone, _Gaara thought, was to trust. He had lost the ability to trust others besides his siblings a long time ago. To believe in something was to dream. He used to think dreams were fantasies brought on by one's foolish imagination due to one's own naivety that dreams could come true, when, in reality, fantasies were to remain as they were: fantasies. But Gaara thought at that moment maybe he could believe in someone; he could believe in the future, in the _possibilities._

There was something else Gaara wanted to say – wanted to ask – but he decided he didn't want to ruin the moment. The clouds shifted and the sun burst through, illuminating Naruto's already bright smile whilst making his golden hair shine boldly. And even though it was nearing the end of fall and heading to winter, that smile warmed him to the core. It very well could have been summer, Gaara thought, staring into those cerulean blues.

It wasn't until _after _lunch was over and the two went to class that Naruto realized they hadn't talked about the shower incident.

_That bastard!_

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It was amazing how quick Naruto was to accept his crush towards his _very male _teacher. Didn't he used to be straight before he came back to Konoha and its blasted all-boys school? Naruto frowned thoughtfully. Who knows? _Maybe I've always been gay and I just didn't know…_

He tilted in his head in wonder as he watched Uchiha Sasuke engage in a sparring match with Hyuuga Neji. While Neji was a very skilled fighter – Naruto gave credit where credit was due – the blond teenager was much too entranced with the older man's movements to pay attention to anything else (or to realize he was practically staring at his teacher with a longing and _very _dreamy expression). Sasuke moved with such fluid grace and deadly precision it was hard to look away. Not to mention all he was wearing were a pair of sweat pants so watching the movements of Sasuke's upper body as his torso twisted and his lithe muscles shifted and strained beneath pale, ivory flesh… was doing strange things to Naruto's stomach.

Inner Naruto blasted through the atmosphere with a heavy amount of blood gushing from his nose.

Considering how acceptingNaruto was of his manly feelings towards his (male) teacher, it made it easier for Naruto ogle said (male) teacher without kicking himself for it. Really. Denial was _such _a pain in the ass… acceptance was much easier. But then again, acceptance led to ogling, which led to further – er, complications_. _Such as the feeling in his stomach that felt like something was twisting away uncomfortably at his gut. And noit wasn't a fluttery-whatever feeling. It was most definitely _not _something so girly. For _manly _men did not feel such _womanly _emotions. The only thing men's stomachs felt was _hunger._

_Like the hunger to devour Sasuke-sensei? _Inner Naruto leered in a singsong voice (having crash landed back in Naruto's brain after his blast off into the atmosphere).

_EH? NO! _Naruto was quick to mentally shriek (at himself), his face flushing at what his Inner self had implied. Where did such a perverted thought come from anyway?! There was no way he was a secret pervert!

_Maybe Sasuke-sensei brings out your inner pervert? _His Inner voice continued to taunt with evil glee. _BAHAHA! YOU'RE A CLOSET PERVERT!_

_I AM NOT! _Naruto mentally screamed, his face turning redder and twisting into a dark scowl. _I WILL HURT YOU!_

_Too bad I AM YOU so technically you'd just be hurting yourself._

_AUGH! GO AWAY!_

"—Uzumaki!"

"YES?" Naruto snapped, not realizing he raised his voice so loud. He was just so furious with that stupid voice in his head! When he realized it was Sasuke who had addressed him, he paled dramatically. "Er, I mean… yes…sensei?"

"It's your turn."

"Aa—" Naruto blinked, slowly processing the fact that Neji was no longer up their fighting Sasuke, but taking his place with the rest of the students in order to observe. "Right!" He jumped up and hurried on to the matt, skittering in order to take his position across from Sasuke. He felt jumpy and nervous for some reason that had absolutely nothing to do with the realization that he was going to be fighting his half-naked teacher who had pale, ivory skin… who he also had the biggest crush on…

_There really must be something wrong with me to be accepting my feelings so easily._

"You're letting your mind wander, Uzumaki," Sasuke reprimanded as he took advantage of Naruto's mental distractions and made the first move. He lunged his right palm in an uppercut, jutting the younger boy beneath his chin. Naruto cried out from surprise as he stumbled back none too gracefully. His feet clumsily tangled together as he stepped back and twisted to the side, barely missing the punch aimed at his head before falling to the ground as Sasuke didn't waste a second to send another punch at him. Without missing a beat, the raven-haired male lifted a leg and slammed it down. Naruto reacted quickly – but clumsily – as he rolled on to his knees and caught the man's ankle before the heel of his foot could slam down on the crown of his head.

Gritting his teeth, the blond shoved his opponent away and swiped a leg out in an attempt to sweep Sasuke off of his feet. Sasuke easily avoided the attempt with a smooth jump and a kick. Rather than rolling to the side, Naruto rolled underneath the few feet beneath the matt and Sasuke. In a matter of seconds, teacher and student were on their feet, exchanging determined and challenging stares before Naruto made the next move. Sasuke caught the fist barreling for his head, as well as the second fist.

The two males locked hands and braced themselves as they tried to overpower the other by sending each other back. It was obvious that all though Naruto was smaller, he could easily hold himself against Sasuke with physical strength alone. But then the close proximity made Naruto's eyes wander to the muscular torso in front of him, made him notice the way the muscles beneath toned arms strained and shifted, made him much too _aware _of the older man in front of him…

"There you go again, spacing out, _dobe,_" Sasuke taunted as he suddenly dropped down – dragging a confused blond with him. He planted a foot on Naruto's stomach as he rolled on his back and kicked his student over, sending a yelping Uzumaki Naruto sailing over him and through the air.

Naruto cursed as he landed in a heap at the edge of the matt. He had to scramble on to his feet before his teacher could take advantage of his disgruntled state yet again. It was true what Sasuke was saying about his mind wandering, but Naruto couldn't help it! He wanted to yell at the bastard that it was _his _fault Naruto kept getting distracted, but then how was he going to explain _that _one? Especially in front of his fellow classmates.

"You're too open, dobe," Sasuke's voice suddenly cut through his thoughts just as his fist connected with the boy's stomach.

"_Fuck," _Naruto cursed, being forced to his knees when Sasuke jabbed harshly at the back of his neck. He dived between the older man's legs and came up from behind. Before he could even _think _of attacking Sasuke while his back was turned, Sasuke kicked back and Naruto was forced down _yet again. _

"You're not paying attention."

"Shut up," Naruto snapped, pushing himself up and glaring as the man turned to face him with calculating obsidians. He already felt humiliated as it was. He didn't need it further rubbed in his face when he knew exactly _why _he was so distracted. "I'm not done yet."

"Hn. You must be a masochist, Uzumaki, to allow yourself to continue to get beat up."

"I don't know what that even means but knowing you it's an insult so shut up and bring it on, bastard!"

Sasuke smirked. He didn't need further prodding as he ran, the sound of bare feet pounding against the matt sounding in the dojo. Naruto intercepted the punch with a smooth brush of his arm before returning the gesture. Teacher and student fell into a familiar rhythm of exchanged punches and kicks, except this time Naruto was able to compose himself enough to push his distractions to the back corners of his mind. There was always a difference when Naruto set his mind to something. Sasuke would know. Even in school Naruto performed better when he faced things head on with conviction and determination. His mind became sharper. He was more attuned to what was around him. He actually used that neglected brain of his. His reflexes were sharper. He was more perceptive, quicker, stealthy, stronger.

And if there was one thing Sasuke learned about the blond was that he was a quick learner as well as _not _forgetful. Every time they sparred – or he sparred with the other students – Naruto would take the lesson from each spar session in order to learn more about his opponents, to better himself, to use what he learned to his advantage. While every fighter did that, Naruto was much more sharp and perceptive than the average fighter. He may not look it, or act like it, but he was smart. And if Sasuke was being honest with himself, he'd go as far as saying he always looked forward to the next time he would fight with Naruto, because Naruto always tried something new, and he always, _always _got better each time.

_But, _Sasuke thought, _while Naruto is getting better, he's still not as good as me._

After that thought passed through his mind, the Uchiha figured his mind might have spoken too soon as Naruto suddenly twisted around, holding one of Sasuke's arm over his shoulder. He bumped back, forcing the man to double over the blond's slouched back. The next thing Sasuke knew he was being flipped over Naruto's shoulders and on to his back with a painful _thud. _Before Naruto could gloat over his momentary triumph, Sasuke grabbed Naruto's ankle and pulled – sending said blond stumbling on top of him. Rather than being disgruntled and taken aback by the action, Naruto sprung into action, as did Sasuke, and the two started to wrestle in order to overpower and pin the other down.

The hustling only lasted for a couple of seconds before Sasuke managed to pin the other down and claim victory – yet again – in their sparring session. The two were panting from the adrenaline rush and the exertion, Naruto scowling as he realized he lost – yet again – and Sasuke smirking in smug satisfaction. Naruto had to turn his head a bit (for Sasuke had his face shoved flat in the matt) and he glared at Sasuke from the corner of his eye, his cheeks flushed and mouth open as he panted and struggled to regain his breathing. It took a while for their position to register in either of their heads, but when it finally did it seemed as if the whole world froze and the two forgot to breathe.

Naruto was beneath him on his knees, his head held firmly down by the pale hand gripping blond strands. The other hand that wasn't holding his head down was clasping two tanned wrists behind Naruto's back. Perhaps the position wouldn't have been so bad if Naruto had been lying flat on his stomach, but the position they were in – Naruto's ass raised high and Sasuke knelt and pressed firmly behind him as he held him down – was both incriminating and suggestive. And was it them or was it suddenly uncomfortably hot in the dojo?

It also didn't help that an image of Naruto in the same position beneath him – albeit naked and _wet _and panting from _pleasure – _suddenly flashed in Sasuke's mind as he remembered seeing the boy nude in the locker room. He had the inexplicable urge to _grind _against the cute ass raised against him and pound said ass into the matt. It was such a sudden thought that it left Sasuke confused and _hot. _And so, just as quickly as the thought passed through his mind, he released the younger male and stood. He needed to remove such indecent thoughts from his head before other problems developed further south, or worse, him actually putting his thoughts into action.

He extended a hand out to Naruto and pulled the blushing blond up. It seemed Sasuke wasn't the only one all too aware of their suggestive position if the way Naruto avoided eye contact and the embarrassed blush he was sporting was anything to go by. Thankfully the other students didn't seem to notice anything amiss by the way they applauded politely for Sasuke's victory.

"You all did well today," Sasuke said. "I'll see you all tomorrow again."

Naruto texted Iruka as soon as they were dismissed, and after he finished changing into his clothes, he went over to the front of the dojo to wait for Iruka. It was raining outside, unfortunately. It had started pouring shortly after school was let out and the rain didn't look like it was going to give out anytime soon. He was so caught up in watching the rain and the cars driving by that he was startled when Gaara questioned him from behind.

"Do you need a ride?"

"Nah, Iruka said he'd pick me up after class if it was still raining," Naruto waved him off. He raised an eyebrow at Gaara, looking very curious. "Speaking of which... wouldn't _you _need a ride home since you always _walk _home?"

"I have a car," the redhead shrugged as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

Naruto's mouth fell open. "_Seriously?! _Then why the hell do you always walk home?"

"Gas pollutes the air."

Naruto stared.

"Seriously?"

"…well it does."

"_Yeah _but I didn't peg you as, er, environmentally-friendly."

Gaara shrugged.

…_Actually,_ when Gaara left Suna, he had an evil plan to get back at his father by withdrawing from his father's bank account _a lot _of money (insert large sum here). With that money he bought a car and his own place to stay at (and still had enough up until then to continue paying for rent and car insurance; he paid off the _whole car _when he bought it). His evil plan involved buying a car but _not really using it. _

He was just a natural at being an evil genius.

He was sure his father -- ever the _un_environmentalist and always into his money -- was rolling in his grave.

"Man! If I had a car I would be driving _everywhere!"_ Naruto stated, looking enviously at Gaara. "You're totally wasting your car away by not using it every chance possible!"

"Oh well."

A blond brow twitched. "Tch. There is something seriously wrong with you, my friend. It's like every teenager's dream to own their own car."

"That is... not my problem."

"Ser-i-ous i-ssues. _Ser-i-ous-ly._"

Gaara shrugged, not really caring. He knew he had issues. But what evil genius didn't? It came with the package. "See you around."

"Yeah, yeah, see ya," Naruto muttered distractedly. As Gaara left he was still muttering about 'issues,' 'people who let their cars rot' and 'damn environmentalists.' He was removed from his ranting when he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket with a text message. He pulled it out and flipped it open to see the text was from 'Irukaaaaaaaaaa.'

_meeting running late. r u able 2 get a ride from someone?._

Naruto quickly looked outside to see if Gaara was still around (hopefully that offer for a ride was on the table), but he didn't see the redhead around any longer. Naruto bit his lip. Everyone else was already gone with exception to Sasuke... He replied to Iruka's message before sighing and slipping his phone back in his pocket.

_yea. dun wry. c u l8r._

He really _didn't _want to ask his bastard teacher for a ride home, but he didn't want to catch the bus home in the rain either. Getting wet outweighed having to talk to said bastard teacher so Naruto marched back to the locker rooms in order to find Sasuke. He didn't see the man at his locker and frowned, wondering where the bastard had gone off to, that is, until he heard the sound of a running shower. Naruto's frown turned questioning. Was that prissy man _really _taking a shower? Couldn't he have done that at home instead of making Naruto wait for him so he could ask for a ride?! How inconsiderate!

For some reason the blond teenager thought it was a good idea to head over to the showers in order to give Sasuke a piece of his mind about being so prissy. Perhaps he was caught up in the moment. Perhaps he was just really that stupid. Or perhaps he just _really _wanted to catch a glimpse of his teacher naked (or so his Inner self leered suggestively)... whatever the reason, Naruto realized he probably should start thinking things through before putting said thoughts into action. It wasn't until he was already standing in front of the showering area that Naruto realized calling his teacher a 'priss' wasn't such a good idea, especially since he needed a ride from him. He also realized marching there thoughtlessly wasn't a good idea either, especially when he got an eyeful of a naked Sasuke, standing beneath the shower head, steam rising all around him as he showered on unaware of his audience.

Naruto's jaw unhinged itself as cerulean eyes gazed at a wet, toned back, wandered to the head of damp raven hair sticking to neck and shoulders, and further down... Naruto gulped, his gaze subconsciously heading further south before warning bells went off in his head that his eyes were heading into dangerous territory, so he quickly (painfully) tore his gaze back to Sasuke's back. His back was nice, Naruto decided. It was nice to look at. He _knew _it was nice to look at when he first walked in on Sasuke changing his shirt one time. It looked nicer when it was all wet and slick like that... He had the sudden urge to walk over to Sasuke so he could run his hands up and down his back and around his torso to his front where he _knew _he would feel just as toned abs (his fingers twitched at a certain memory of riding with Sasuke on his motorcycle...).

It was strange for Naruto seeing Sasuke naked. Half naked was one thing, but seeing Sasuke completely nude and _dripping wet _was doing strange things to Naruto. It felt like a circus was parading around in his stomach, and the room felt ten times hotter than it should. His cheeks were flushed and eyes a hazy, darker blue than usual. He drew his bottom lip between his teeth and worried it without realizing what he was doing. Anticipation started to build in his belly when he saw Sasuke turning around. As soon as he did, Naruto high tailed it out of there, the thought of rain suddenly becoming appealing to his flustered state.

He didn't stop running until he was outside of the dojo standing beneath the awning. The rain continued on several inches from his position. It was dark out, but the rain clouds over head blocked the moon and stars, making the sky appear pitch black. But he wasn't thinking about that. He was thinking about Sasuke, and the fact that he saw his teacher _naked! _It should have burned his retinas from his eyes completely. He should have been disgusted. He should feel sick! Traumatized! But he wasn't any of those things! He was hot and bothered and completely flustered from head to toe! The voice in the back of his mind taunted that he had wanted to join Sasuke in the shower... and Naruto knew that voice was _right._

Naruto was panting as he leaned back against the front of the building in order to regain his breathing. He felt like his heart was beating so fast - almost as fast as the fluttering of a hummingbird's wings - that he feared it was going to burst from his chest any moment. What a gruesome thing that would be for his heart to burst from his chest. Painful too, probably. He winced at the thought. It wasn't until after his breathing and heartbeat returned to normal that the teenager was finally able to relax and realize that he was outside and it was rather chilly, even with his orange hoodie on. Naruto looked up and down the sidewalk as he thought over what his best approach home would be. He did not want to go back in the dojo and face his teacher otherwise the memory of the man naked would invade his mind like it was again...

"Gah! Don't think about it!" Naruto scolded himself, dashing out into the rain in order to reach the bus stop at the corner of the sidewalk. He took shelter beneath the arch and slumped down on the bench with a sigh. Naruto wondered if it was possible to be utterly infatuated with an older man, but then he thought of the fanboys (and fangirls who came all the way from Konoha's All Girl's High School just to see Uchiha Sasuke), and thought it wasn't impossible.

_But I'm not a crazy fan stalker, _Naruto thought to himself, scowling in frustration at the wet asphalt of the street. _But I've never... really liked other people, like _that. _I've liked Sakura-chan but now I just see her like my sister. So there's nothing to compare this feeling to... I'm so confused._

Naruto smacked his hands to his cheeks and squeezed them. "Get yourself together, Uzumaki Naruto! You're acting like a lovesick woman! Dattebayo!"

He was a man, who felt manly feelings towards another man. It was just a phase... definitely.

Feeling more confident about his feelings (or lack thereof), Naruto was finally able to relax as he looked up and down the street for any signs of the bus. Not much time had passed since he ran out of the dojo, so the fact that it was cold and raining outside when the only warmth he was receiving was from his hoodie, was finally catching up to him. Luckily it didn't take long for the bus to come. Naruto hopped in, paid the bus fare, and turned to take his seat. He wavered when seeing how _dingy _and dirty the bus was in comparison to others he's been on. The bus wasn't crowded, but the few that were in it looked shady. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Naruto hurried down the row just as the bus gave a jerk and started up again.

After five minutes on the bus, Naruto was starting to think perhaps taking the bus wasn't such a good idea if the unnerving stares the shady people that were on the bus was any indication to go by. He would have rather undergone certain embarrassment by going back to the Uchiha and asking for a ride home than stay on that bus another minute longer. It also didn't help that the man sitting across from him looked creepy _to the max. _The man appeared middle aged, had a messy, unkempt appearance, along with a moustache and a goatee and a wicked gleam in his eyes. Everything about him screamed _PEDOPHILE!_

_That sick bastard probably thinks I'm a kid… _Naruto thought, sending the man a withering glare that temporarily threw said man off guard. _Ha! Serves him righ—Ehhh? He's coming over here!! _

Cue inner panic.

The creepy-pedophile-looking-lecherous-old-man occupied the seat next to him.

"Hello little boy," the man greeted, positively beaming as if he was merely doing a good deed by, perhaps, approaching this child who may be lost and possibly need escorting to his (the man's – er, the _young boy's – _home). "You look lost."

Naruto scowled dangerously at him. "I don't think it's possible to be lost on a _bus. _Now scram you old geezer before I bestow you with my Fist of Justice."

"Feisty, huh? I li—_admire _kids who are feisty."

_I'm sure you do! _Naruto wanted to scream, but ended up screaming instead: "I'm not a kid!"

Naruto grinned victoriously at the pervert's crestfallen expression. "You're not?? But you're so—so—"

"_Don't you dare call me –" _Naruto started to warn in a growl.

"—small!"

"I AM NOT SMALL!"

Not a minute later Naruto found himself kicked out of the bus (by the driver after he punched the man to the end of the bus) and into the rain. He watched angrily as the bus drove away and kicked at a puddle. "Stupid pedophile! He should have gotten tossed outta the bus, not me…"

Naruto furiously blinked the rain water from his eyes as he pulled his hood further over his head and turned to start walking, that is, until the sign blinking in his peripheral vision caught his attention. He looked up to see he was standing right in front of the _Clownfish._

"I feel like I've been here before…" Naruto muttered, tapping his chin thoughtfully. Did Iruka ever take him there? Nah… Did he go with his friends? He didn't _think _so…

"Oh yeah!" _Sasuke-bastard took me here before…_

It was funny how his thoughts always seemed to wander back to Sasuke. Not.

Naruto pushed his way into the restaurant. He realized he was hungry anyway.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke hated the rain. He hated cold and unbearably hot temperatures. He hated bad weather in general. He hated a lot of things, really. He particularly hated that it had to rain on the same day he got his car washed. Why did it always seem to rain when he got his car washed? The Gods must hate him… Either that or they were envious of his beautiful ride. But who could blame them? Sasuke would be jealous if he were anyone else. But Sasuke didn't do jealousy. It was a petty emotion that Uchihas never stooped down to. Ever.

And for some reason people lost the ability to drive whenever it rained. It seemed as if a little bit of rain warranted people to drive thirty miles below speed limit. That or there was just an awful lot of elder people driving that night. Sasuke turned his car off in relief once he finally made it to his destination: _Clownfish. _Teaching all day really gave him an appetite.

He also failed to pay his electricity bill on time since it was underneath the pile of other junk mail he received and hadn't seen it till the other morning when nothing in his apartment worked. Without electricity, he couldn't cook, and his food was probably spoiling away in his refrigerator… (then again electricity or not, Sasuke wasn't the cooking type, but the get-takeout-food-all-the-time type). Needless to say Sasuke had been too busy (lazy) since the previous morning to pay his bill.

Sasuke walked quickly through the rain and into the restaurant. The usual bored-looking hostess greeted him as he removed his wet jacket and she took it, hanging it on a hook to let it dry.

"Seat at the bar?" she asked, Sasuke being a usual customer that she easily remembered where he preferred seating.

He nodded.

"Well you know the way," she gestured with a yawn.

Sasuke doubt her boss would let her get away with talking to customers like that. But he _did _know the way and she knew he did so there was no point in her guiding him there. As he stepped around the bamboo walls and into the restaurant, he noted it was practically vacant save for someone else occupying the bar, and another person sitting on the opposite end against the wall. The atmosphere itself was peaceful with a mellow song playing in the background. He made his way to the bar and sat a few stools down from the other bar occupant.

Sasuke took his time browsing the menu as he waited for the bartender to approach him. As if on cue, the bartender came out from the back, saw he had a new customer, and walked over to him. "Good evening. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Mm…sake," Sasuke said as he closed his menu. "I'm also ready to order. I'll have _tendon…"_

The bartender nodded and took his menu. The other occupant at the bar lifted his head at the sound of Sasuke's voice and turned to look, squinting.

"Eeeh? Sensei?"

Sasuke looked up only to see a certain Uzumaki Naruto sitting a few seats down from him. Damn. And here the man thought he was going to have a nice, peaceful dinner by himself. "Dobe."

Naruto blinked and scowled. "Bastard!"

"What are you doing here?"

"_Weeeell…" _Naruto trailed off thoughtfully. He really didn't want to talk about how he got kicked out of the bus. "This is a _karaoke bar-restaurant… _thing… and people come to restaurants to _eat…_"

Sasuke didn't know why he asked a question with such an _obvious _answer. After all, it was a free world and Naruto could eat wherever he wanted. But did he have to eat where Sasuke ate _at the same time? _

"Here you go, kid."

"Thanks!"

Sasuke watched in morbid fascination as the boy wolfed his noodles down and somehow managed to take a chug of his own sake in the process. "Aren't you a bit young to be drinking, dobe?"

"Ife sefenfeen," Naruto said with a mouthful of noodles. Sasuke's lip curled in disgust.

"Don't talk with your mouthful, dobe."

Naruto swallowed his food. "I'm _seventeen. _I'm obviously legal otherwise the bartender would never have given me sake!"

The drinking age in Konoha was seventeen. No one really knew why, but Naruto heard it was due to the fact that long ago Konoha used to be a _shinobi _village. Back then children became _shinobi _at the age of twelve and it was decided that since children could go on dangerous missions that sometimes involved killing, why shouldn't they be allowed to indulge in alcohol? Back then there was no age limit. Over time it changed to fifteen, then sixteen, then seventeen as society became more modern and advanced.

…Or at least, that's what Kakashi told Naruto the other day. Considering what a lying pervert that man was, Naruto wasn't sure if he could trust that story.

But it sounded cool. _Ninjas. _Naruto wished he was a ninja…

Sasuke noticed Naruto had already finished off a bottle of sake some time before he had gotten there. He also noticed that the blond's cheeks were becoming flushed as he finished his second bottle. He figured the teenager was already getting drunk if the way said teenager suddenly froze mid-bite, eyes glazed over in thought, before suddenly snapping back to reality and finishing his bite was any indication of his inebriated state.

In the next ten minutes Sasuke relished in the silence, surprised Naruto hadn't tried engaging him in conversation. Within that time the bartender had brought him his drink and his food. Teacher and student ate in companionable silence. Sasuke knew from the last time he ate ramen with Iruka and Naruto that Naruto was a heavy eater. But the amount of times he had the bartender going back and forth from the kitchen with a fresh, steaming bowl of ramen never ceased to bewilder him. That boy truly was the personification of 'bottomless pit.'

"I wanted to be a ninja," Naruto suddenly said after his fifth…sixth – Who knows? Sasuke lost count… – bowl of ramen.

"What?" Sasuke asked, eyeing Naruto oddly. Where did that come from?

"Just thought I'd let you know," Naruto said matter-of-factly, "since we're on the topic."

"…What?"

"You _know…" _Naruto tapped his head before lowering his voice to a whisper. "_Ninjas, _bastard. There used to be _ninjas _in Konoha… They could still be around…" He eyed the man sitting alone on the other side of the restaurant suspiciously. "They could be _anyone…" _He eyed the bartender. "_A-ny-ooonnee…" _He eyed Sasuke.

"…"

Naruto suddenly perked back up. "I wanted to be one when I was a kid! What did you want to be? Huh? A lawyer? You look like the type who'd want to be a lawyer."

"Are you judging me, dobe? I was not aware of you being the judgmental type."

"Nah I'm just sayin'. You seem like the type who'd make people crack. Like you'd call someone to the stand and you'd be all eyeing him down coolly and you'd be all," Naruto twisted his face to one of seriousness as he drawled out: "'So did you do it?' And that's all you'd have to do is ask that one thing and you'd continue starin' the guy down and he'd be sweatin' in his seat and all you'd need is that evil stare and you'd make the guy crack and he'd spill everythin'! …That's all."

Sasuke couldn't help but look amused at Naruto's (drunken) logic. "I see. If you must know… I did not want to be a lawyer."

"Have you always wanted to be a teacher? Do teachers just _know _they're gonna be teachers when they're like, kids?"

"No, dobe," Sasuke chuckled. He felt loose and in an unusually good mood. It was probably his sake. He had to be on his, what, third, fourth bottle? But Naruto was on his fifth…then again, who's counting?

"You sound nice when you kinda laugh," Naruto stated.

"Hn."

"So answer my question, bastard. Quit distractin' me with your kinda-laughs and stuff."

"'And stuff'?" Sasuke repeated, his eyebrow quirked.

"Yeah!" Naruto was leaning towards him and Sasuke noticed how the dimness of the restaurant and the flush on tan cheeks made his blue eyes appear darker. It reminded him of the rain at night. "Your eyes…distract me sometimes. 'Cause they're all dark aaaand… some people say they're soldering."

"Soldering? Do you mean _smoldering?_"

"That's what I said."

"No, you said… never mind. You… think my eyes are smoldering."

"I did not say that."

"But you were thinking it," Sasuke lowered his voice teasingly. Was he flirting with his student? It was hard to tell. He was just mocking him as usual. If his voice came off as sultry and husky it wasn't _intentional…_

"And what are you? A mind reader?" Naruto demanded hotly. He clamped his hands over his ears. Sasuke looked incredulous.

"Why are you holding your ears?"

"So my thoughts won't leak out so you can't hear 'em! Duh."

"You _were _thinking it then."

"No way!"

"Idiot."

"Hey! Don't call me names!" Naruto reprimanded as he jabbed a finger at the older male. "Bastard."

"I'll stop calling you names if you stop calling me bastard."

"It's kind of your name so I really can't."

"Then I can't stop calling you idiot."

"Bastard."

"Idiot."

"You distracted me again!"

"Hn." Sasuke smirked. "I don't remember what I wanted to be when I was younger."

"You're such a liar! How can you forget? I can't forget. I _still _think ninjas are cool! And so did my dad! We used to play ninjas all the time…" Naruto suddenly trailed off and became lost in his thoughts. "I can't forget…" he repeated the next second with conviction.

Sasuke's drunken tongue wanted to ask what else the boy remembered about his father, but even in his intoxicated mind realized it would be much too cruel. He was also starting to think that referring to Naruto as 'boy' wasn't exactly proper, for even though the _teenager _was short, he was far from a child. People have constantly told Sasuke that there was something about him that made him appear older; the look in his eyes, his mature personality, his cool demeanor, his intelligence… He could see what people meant when he looked at Naruto.

And the remembered feel of a smooth, tan stomach against his hand wasn't something he cared to feel from a boy. He also didn't think about little children in incriminating positions, or remember them bending over wet and naked after a shower… _Gods. I sound like a pedophile._

Since when did he stop looking at Naruto like a child who needed constant reprimanding?

And since when did Naruto move over chairs that they were suddenly sitting next to each other?

"What, dobe?" Sasuke asked, disgruntled as Naruto stared at him.

"…Shh," Naruto hushed as he pressed a finger to Sasuke's lips. "I'm trying to read your thoughts."

"…"

"That proves it," Naruto said after a few seconds of concentration. His expression was solemn. "Your mind is as blank as your expression."

"Dobe," Sasuke growled, grabbing the hand in front of his face. "You're smashed."

"No kidding," Naruto flashed him a cheeky grin. "So are you."

"No I am not. I can hold my liquor, unlike you."

"Shut up. I just became legal recently," Naruto pointed out.

"Legal or illegal has never stopped teens from drinking."

"Aren't you being a hippopotamus to judge me and put me in that category?"

"…I believe the correct term is 'hypocrite.'"

Naruto looked confused. "Isn't that what I said?"

"No," Sasuke chuckled.

Naruto wondered if it was Sasuke's chuckle or the alcohol that made him feel warmer inside all of a sudden. It was then he realized Sasuke was still holding his hand and that warm feeling increased.

"You're blushing, dobe," Sasuke murmured, his breath warm against Naruto's fingertips.

"No 'm'not," Naruto disagreed. He thought he should pull his hand away because Sasuke was holding it _way _too longer than was necessary, but who was he kidding? He _wanted _Sasuke to keep holding his hand. Sasuke may seem like a cold bastard most of the time, but for such a cold bastard, his hands were surprisingly warm. He couldn't help but feel disappointed when the older male relinquished his grasp. "You know what? Gaara kissed me a few days ago in the boy's locker room."

Both of Sasuke's eyebrows rose. Was that why he saw the redhead storming out of the locker room that one day? "…I see."

"Yeah," Naruto made a face. He didn't know why he was telling Sasuke what happened, but he didn't know why he was saying a lot of things. "And then earlier today we had a talk and he made it sound as if it was _conventional _or somethin'! Can you believe that prick?!"

"…Consensual," Sasuke corrected.

"What?!"

"You said 'conventional.'"

"No I didn't."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Why was he even bothering trying to correct someone so drunk?

"I didn't want him to kiss me."

"Who do you want to kiss you?"

"I'm not _that _drunk to go telling you _that,_" Naruto reprimanded with a grin. "Silly bastard."

"Hn." Sasuke glanced at his wristwatch in order to distract himself from his curiosity. Apparently alcohol made him more curious than was natural for an Uchiha. "It's late, dobe. Shouldn't you be getting home before Iruka-san worries about you?"

"Naaah," Naruto waved his hand. "He hasn't even texted me… He's probably with that Kakashi-pervert… I think they're going out."

"You think?"

Naruto nodded.

Sasuke resisted the urge to smack his forehead (a very un-Uchiha thing to do). "How are you getting home?"

Naruto shrugged.

"…How did you get here?"

"The bus. But then I got kicked out because this stupid pedophile thought I was a kid and hit on me so I hit him and for some reason _I _got kicked out…"

"…I see." Sasuke got off his stool as he pulled his wallet out and set enough bills on the table to cover both his and Naruto's food and drinks. He justified his actions by telling himself that Naruto was too drunk to figure out _how _to pay for his food and drinks.

Naruto blinked owlishly. "Are you leaving?"

"Hn."

Sasuke remained completely oblivious to Naruto's 'I-really-need-a-ride-home-so-please-offer-me-a-ride!' look as he slipped his wallet back into his coat pocket and turned around to leave. Drunk or not, Naruto figured his admittance to taking the bus would have somehow _hinted _to the Uchiha that he _didn't _have a ride home and could _really use one! _Was that man dense or what?! And didn't he ask Naruto how he was getting home? And _didn't _Naruto shrug?! Was he really so cold-hearted he was going to turn away and let Naruto walk home in the _rain?!!_

Sasuke was already out the restaurant by the time reality caught up with the blond.

"HE REALLY DID JUST LEAVE!"Naruto burst out aghast. "W-WAIT! BASTARD!" Naruto jumped off his stool and darted after his teacher (nearly tripping in the process); hurrying to catch up to the man before he was gone and Naruto would really have to walk home in the downpour. Sasuke had only managed to walk a feet away from the door when Naruto came bursting out panting. "HEY! DON'T LEAVE!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Wait…just wait!" Naruto held up a hand to stop him as he caught his breath. "And must you always do that eyebrow thing?! It's annoying."

"Tch." Sasuke turned to leave.

"Wait!"

"_What, _dobe?" Sasuke asked, looking at him from over his shoulder.

"I need a ride home!"

"…Huh."

"…"

"…"

"_Can _I get a ride home?"

"…You _can…"_

"…What the f—" A vein in Naruto's temple twitched. "_May _I get a ride home?--" _Oh Evil One._

Sasuke glanced up at the sky, looking like what he was about to do was going to pain him to do so. "…Fine."

Naruto wasn't sure what possessed him. If anyone by chance found out, he would just tell them it was the alcohol's fault. It made him more excited (if possible, since the teen _always _seemed excited) than usual. It also didn't help that being around Sasuke made him feel _high_. He wasn't sure why. But giddiness plus alcohol plus happy-that-he-didn't-have-to-walk-home-in-the-rain _really _shouldn't have meant he jump on his teacher and plant a big smackaroo right on his lips.

But, he did.

At the moment he regretted it once his actions caught up to his slow, intoxicated mind.

Whether he regretted it _later on _was a different story.

**To be continued.**

BAHAHAHAHA. Sorry. Cliffies are just second-nature to me, ya know?? It comes al-natural. I don't mean to do it. I somehow write myself into a cliffhanger. Sorrysorry. But I am sooo extremely excited to write the next chapter you have no idea… maybe once I'm done studying for my two psych exams…and when my reflection paper is finished…and other hw oii. Taking five classes in college plus work is killer, let me tell you.

AND ALSO **HAPPY (**belated**) BIRTHDAY TO BLUEBELLA/RAISEL (my dear illustrator for yh). **This chapter is for you for all of your awesome drawings the past year. Time sure flies by! –throws confetti-)

OKAY TIME FOR ME TO GO WORK -RUNS AWAY-


	18. this is the rejection hotline

**Note(s): **I'm suddenly jumping to December because nothing eventful happens in November… November just isn't that eventful, what can I say?

**Warnings: **Lime… in a sense.

Throwing yourself at your _teacher _and kissing him on the lips was downright unacceptable and improper. The part kicking himself for doing so was the small part of his rationale that hadn't been overtaken by the influence of alcohol. Needless to say, the ride home was extremely awkward for Sasuke – and Naruto, even though one would doubt by the way he was signing along to songs on the radio.

Whether Sasuke noticed or not, Naruto _had _felt awkward. In order to avoid said awkwardness and not dwell on his own foolish actions, he blasted the radio and pretended like nothing out of the ordinary happened, which was expected from a drunken Naruto. He was drunk. He wasn't held accountable for kissing Sasuke. He was more excited than usual. It wasn't something neither of them should take seriously. It meant nothing. He was _drunk_. People do stupid things when they're drunk. He was going to forget.

But Naruto didn't forget.

It was hard to when, a second and a half into the kiss, Naruto suddenly tore himself away from Sasuke in order to projectile vomit all over his shoes.

Awkward much?

* * *

welcome to yaoi high – **18. this is the rejection hotline**– eftee

* * *

_December_

It was two days before winter break. Naruto glanced at the clock. It was fifteen minutes to lunch and he still had six problems left to finish on his math midterm. He glanced at Sasuke to see the man was lounging comfortably in his chair with his feet propped on his desk and a book held open in front of his face. Naruto momentarily tore his gaze from his teacher in order to survey the classroom. There were only three other students still working on the exam. Everyone else had finished ahead of time and was let out to lunch early. Naruto looked back at Sasuke then scowled down at his exam.

Unfortunately Naruto was slower than the average student in order to finish a test. It wasn't because he wanted it to be, but because it took him a while longer to process a problem and solve it. When Sasuke was tutoring him Naruto found that a lot of things came easier and quicker to him. But now? After the 'most-embarrassing-and-stupidest-moment-of-his-young-life,' as Naruto liked to dub it, or the 'kissing-incident,' as Sakura referred to it as, Sasuke stopped tutoring him. The following class day after that (dreadful) incident, Sasuke told Naruto there was no need for tutoring. He was perfectly fine without a tutor. With that said, Sasuke walked away, leaving a gaping Naruto behind. Ever since then Sasuke only acknowledged Naruto's existence in the classroom (and even then that was rare because it wasn't as if Naruto volunteered to ask or answer questions).

It seemed as if there was a strained and awkward atmosphere.

Well – no, not 'seemed.' But there _was _a strained and awkward atmosphere. Even Naruto found he couldn't look Sasuke straight in the eye without remembering the worst moment of his life and becoming embarrassed. Every time he saw the raven-haired man he wanted to bury himself six feet under and hide forever.

Naruto had the sudden urge to bang his head on his desk.

"Ten minutes left," Sasuke's bored voice droned.

"Shit," Naruto hissed, focusing his attention back on his exam.

If Sasuke said Naruto didn't need tutoring, then Naruto was going to show him he really didn't. He went through the month without Sasuke's extra help and was doing fine. Gaara helped him out when Naruto needed it. He studied for his midterms with Shikamaru. He didn't need Sasuke. Naruto was smart. He would pass, dattebayo!

He finished his exam two minutes to spare. The other three students that were in the class had finished before him and left. With deliberate slow movements, Naruto slung his bag over his shoulder and walked the length of the row to Sasuke's desk. It was just him and _that man _alone in the classroom. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest with every step he took. He could feel his palms begin to sweat as he started to hold out his test for Sasuke to take. Would the man look at him? Would he say anything? Would he acknowledge him? Would he –

"Have a good day, Uzumaki."

Naruto blinked. He was already standing in front of Sasuke's desk, his hand empty of his exam. Sasuke hadn't bothered to tear his gaze from his book to look at his student, nor had he bothered to say much of anything else. Naruto bit his lip as he resisted the urge to yell at his teacher, _Why are you avoiding me?! Look at me, will you?! Just look at me you bastard!_

"Why are you just standing there?"

It took Naruto a moment to process who was talking, why he was talking, what he just said, and that the question slash comment pertained to himself seeing as how he was still standing there practically gawking at his teacher.

"Well…" Naruto finally said, his mind choosing that moment to shut down.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Well…?"

Why was it that he had to get so nervous in front of Sasuke? When he had a crush on Sakura, he never stammered or stumbled over his words. He always acted confident and flirtatious around her. And yet here was Sasuke, the man of his current infatuations, and Naruto couldn't even form a proper sentence.

When it became apparent the boy wasn't going to say anything, Sasuke calmly closed his book and set it down on his desk. His feet slid back to the floor so he was sitting properly in his chair. "Was there something you needed, Uzumaki?"

"Um, well, _no _but—" he started to say, stumbling over his words whilst trying to grasp the proper ones he wanted to say.

"If there is nothing you need, then I'll be on my way," the Uchiha said, standing up and gathering the exams. He slipped them into a folder, picked it up along with his book and headed to the door. "I would rather not waste the rest of my lunch standing here while you think –"

"God damn it, bastard, stop avoiding me!"

At the sudden outburst, Sasuke froze. Naruto's eyes widened when it registered in his head what he just said. Unfortunately the words were already out, so he grit his teeth and stared at Sasuke's back.

A heavy silence stretched out for what felt like an unnecessarily long time before Sasuke's quiet voice sounded, "Excuse me?"

"I said to stop avoiding me," Naruto repeated with more confidence. "Or are you growing deaf in your old age, sensei?"

With a twitch of his brow, the older man turned around so he was once again facing his student. "And what makes you think that I am avoiding you?"

"Bullshit! I didn't mean to throw up on your shoes, okay?! It was an accident—"

"_What?" _Sasuke interrupted with a harsh laugh, "I know you're an idiot, Uzumaki, but _I _am not. You have been avoiding me as much as I have been ignoring you, so I am quite aware that you were conscious of your actions that night."

"Aha! So you admit to avoiding me!" Naruto jibed smugly. "But sue me for trying to block that horrible memory from my brain. Can't we just pretend it didn't happen? I was drunk, okay? It doesn't have to make things awkward between us," he finished with an air of nonchalance.

"'Awkward between us'?" Sasuke quoted mockingly. "You speak as if there's reason for things not to be awkward between us, as if we're _friends _or something. Need I remind you that I am your teacher and you are my _student?_ But I get it, I really do." His tone and smirk became cruel. Naruto paled in horror at his next words: "You have a crush on me otherwise why else would you have thrown yourself at me? Saying you were drunk was just an excuse to indulge yourself in your secret little fantasies –"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Naruto interrupted, his cheeks becoming hot with anger and embarrassment. His eyes became thunderous and dark as he pulled himself to his full height and glowered at Sasuke. "Don't get so egotistical, you asshole! I happen to hug people when I am overly excited, and that alcohol just made me kiss you, okay? Why the hell would I have a crush on _you? _You're such a coldhearted bastard! You're too frigid for me to even _consider _having an inkling of interest!"

"Big words, _dobe," _the man taunted in a drawl.

Naruto growled. "Shut up, bastard. It's not as if you pushed me away when I kissed you. I wonder what that could possibly _imply? _Hmm, could it be that _Uchiha-sensei _has a crush on _moi?_" Naruto fluttered his eyelashes. "Oh sensei, I didn't know you felt that way about me!"

Sasuke sneered in disgust. "In your dreams."

"Tch. You _totally _like me!" Naruto persisted, grinning confidently at Sasuke. "Otherwise why else would you put up with me so much? It makes sense! You give me a ride home, you took me out on my birthday, and you're harder on me than you are in comparison to the rest of your students…"

_More like harder _for _you…, _a nasty little voice in Sasuke's head leered. He quickly stomped down such a thought.

"And you think I am egotistical?" the man interrupted irritably. "You're not the perfect image of modesty right now, _dobe._"

"And you call me that!" Naruto continued on as if he hadn't said anything. "You call me names! You fight with me! I mean, come _on! _You so don't fight with anyone else!"

"It's because your stupidity is contagious," Sasuke growled. He could feel a headache coming on. "Unfortunately I have to stoop to your level otherwise I'm afraid your head would be unable to handle a higher level of maturity and would probably malfunction permanently."

Naruto opened his mouth to protest but Sasuke plowed on, "And the same could also be said about _you, _couldn't it? You constantly seek out my attention, coming to me in the pretense of needing tutoring, needing a ride home, having dinner with me, having classes with me, detention with me…"

At those words, Naruto's mouth dropped open in disbelief. "What?! You think I _planned _all of that?! You think I _wanted _to be in your classes? You think I wanted to have detention with _you?! _You're fucking tripping--!"

"Tch," Sasuke snorted, turning his back to Naruto. "Whatever. I'm flattered you like me. But you'll get over it. Hopefully. You're wasting my lunch time."

"You don't talk to me like I'm a student," Naruto pointed out.

"You require a different tact. I'm sure your other teachers feel the same."

"I don't feel like a student around you."

"That's because you like me."

"You treat me differently."

"Just drop it, Uzumaki, before you further embarrass yourself. You're starting to sound like those other infatuated idiots who idolize me and are utterly convinced I have feelings for them. I never pegged you as the fanboy type."

"I am _not _a fanboy!"

"Sure."

"I'm _serious!_"

"Hn."

"Damn it, bastard, don't walk away from me!"

But Sasuke was already gone, leaving Naruto alone in an empty classroom. Had he really just said all of that to _Uchiha Sasuke? _His original intention hadn't been to even _talk _to the man and yet his mouth slipped away from him, once again leaving him in a bad situation. _I really am an idiot, _Naruto thought with a sigh as he walked out of the classroom and to the cafeteria. It seemed as if when it came to the Uchiha that Naruto acted… _really_ stupid. People said he always acted irrational, but that was his personality. But when it came to that man, Naruto actually felt like he couldn't control himself. Sasuke provoked him and riled him up in a way that no one else ever had.

And that damn bastard didn't have to do much but raise an eyebrow!

Naruto's brow twitched in irritation.

The more he thought about it, the more Sasuke possibly liking him started to seem like, well, a _possibility. _It was true that he did things for Naruto that he never bothered to extend towards other students. He bantered with Naruto. He took Naruto out to eat. He called Naruto names. He acted in a completely unprofessional manner that would no doubt raise questionable eyebrows among staff if they saw him. And the way his body felt pressed against Naruto from behind during one particular incident at the dojo…

_Gods _had that felt good…

Maybe Naruto was in over his head, but the words were already said, and he knew he had a mission to accomplish: prove to Sasuke that he (Sasuke) had a crush on him (Naruto).

That would be easier said than done for most people but Naruto was persistent if anything. He was also determined to get his way.

* * *

**Attempt Number One**

After a day of mulling, thinking and doing research – by 'research,' Naruto meant listening to Sakura chat on and on about her favorite _shoujo manga _and dramas – he came up with a full proof plan to prove that the bastard had a crush on him.

If there was one thing Naruto learned, it was that people who liked other people had the tendency to glance "inconspicuously" at their target of interest. Everyone else – by everyone he meant the infatuated person's friends, family, and the readers – noticed the glances, but the target of interest never noticed. If the target of interested returned the feelings they generally glanced at the infatuated person as well when said person was not aware. It was rather cliché and frustrating if you asked Naruto. But if he could just catch Sasuke looking at him all of the time then he could definitely prove that the man had a crush on him!

Which would explain why Naruto was sitting in Physiology, glaring heatedly at the classroom door as he waited for Sasuke to arrive. Sakura told him that when you liked someone, you had the tendency to seek out eye contact with them. If Sasuke walked into the room and made eye contact with him right away, then that would prove he _definitely _liked him! But Naruto was starting to grow impatient and rather irritated when, after glancing at the clock, he noted five minutes already passed since class was supposed to start.

He only had a day of school to find proof that Sasuke liked him since after today they would be on winter break. Sasuke was wasting his precious time by being lat– Ah, _speak of the devil._

The classroom door opened and in came Sasuke, a stack of papers in his arm (no doubt their exams) and a hot steaming foam cup of coffee in his other hand. Naruto sat up straight in his chair as he watched his teacher's movements like a hawk. When it became apparent that Sasuke was making no effort to look at _anyone _as he approached his desk, Naruto made a show of stretching, yawning obnoxiously, and clearing his throat loudly. _Still _Sasuke didn't look at him.

Naruto frowned as he watched Sasuke pass out the exam without a word to his class. Once he was done, he sat down at his desk, picked up a book, opened it and waved his hand, eyes trained on his novel, "Begin."

Papers shuffled and pencils scribbled as everyone started their exam. It took Naruto a moment to realize the exam was starting. How come Sasuke hadn't looked at him?!

_That bastard! He's probably avoiding eye contact on purpose! But don't worry… I'll catch you when you least expect it!_

And so, with that thought in mind, Naruto turned his attention to the exam.

(Throughout the class period he would glance up repeatedly to see if, by chance, Sasuke was staring at him. He never actually caught his teacher look at him, but Naruto was convinced the older man was doing it when he wasn't looking.)

* * *

**Attempt Number Three**

Naruto's second attempt to make eye contact with Sasuke in order to prove the older man liked him was a bust when Naruto handed in his exam and Sasuke hadn't bothered to remove his gaze from his book. He was vaguely reminded of yesterday when such an action led them into an argument, but rather than breaking into an outburst like he did the other day, Naruto turned on his heels and exited the classroom. The teen didn't leave though without a singsong, "See you later, _sensei," _trailing after him.

The only indication that Sasuke heard him was a slight, barely perceptible twitch in his temple.

Once his last student handed in their exam, Sasuke closed his book, picked up the exams that he _wished _he could put off grading for another week, and exited the classroom. It was break time before the next class and Sasuke decided he needed more coffee. It was on his way to the teacher's lounge that Sasuke rounded a corner and – _bam._

"Hey wa—Oh, Uchiha-_sensei! _Why _hello _there."

He didn't have to look up to see who it was. Irritation crept over him like a looming storm cloud.

"Uzumaki."

The blond idiot flashed him a Cheshire grin. "Fancy running into you here!"

"Considering I teach in the same school that you attend, it's really not that much of a surprise that we would run into each other," Sasuke deadpanned. He narrowed his eyes when the boy merely continued to beam a charming smile at him. He had assumed that Naruto would lash out at him considering their awkward argument yesterday, but the fact that said teen was acting _pleasant _was making Sasuke suspicious. Being suspicious made him more comfortable around the boy because then he felt he could fall back into his authoritative role. It was obvious by the twinkle in Naruto's eyes and the way he was smiling that he was up to mischief. Sasuke would find out and administer punishment when it became necessary. _That _was the way it was supposed to be between the two.

"You're so funny, Uchiha-sensei!" Naruto laughed, an easy smile on his lips. _Giving compliments are a way to let someone know you like them. You have to get on their good side so they can relax around you, _Sakura's words from last night's phone conversation rang in his head.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed even further. "…What are you up to, Uzumaki?"

_Flirt with him while giving compliments… It'll make him squirm. _

"Why would I be up to something, _sensei?" _Naruto asked, making his eyes big, an expression of false innocence on his face. He lowered his gaze slightly, as if upset that Sasuke's accusation had hurt him. Sasuke found he was enthralled by the sight of Naruto lowering his eyes as blond lashes brushed against tanned skin. "I'm not _always _causing trouble, sensei." And the way the idiot was saying _sensei _didn't sound very innocent. It sounded…

--dirty, hot, husky –

…_wrong. _Wrong, wrong, wrong! Sasuke schooled his expression into one of indifference. "Well, whatever. If you _are _up to something, just don't let me catch you."

"But then I won't be able to spend detention with you, sensei," Naruto mentally snickered as he caught Sasuke's eyes widen for a fraction of a second.

"Gods forbid we let that happen again," Sasuke muttered. He didn't think it would be safe if the way Naruto was looking at him in such an openly flirtatious manner was any indication. "Well, carry on, Uzumaki. I'm sure your friends are wondering where you're at."

"But I'd rather spend time with sensei."

Sasuke brushed passed Naruto in a forced, casual stride. "Unfortunately for you, I would rather spend time without your company. Good luck with the rest of your exams."

Naruto pouted as he watched Sasuke disappear down the hall and into the teacher's lounge. He couldn't tell how much his flirting had affected Sasuke, but that small moment when he saw Sasuke's eyes widened, he knew beneath all of that cold exterior walls he had gotten beneath his skin. That was the only comforting thought, but it was enough to keep Naruto optimistic.

"Hey, blondie!"

Naruto blinked out of his thoughts when an arm was suddenly dropped around his shoulders. He relaxed instantly when recognizing the brunette. "Oh, hey Kiba."

Kiba raised an eyebrow. "You looked like you were deep in thought there… Penny for your thoughts?"

"Well…" Naruto appeared thoughtful for a minute. "How do you get someone to admit that they like you?"

"Huh?" Kiba crossed his arms and creased his brows at the question, mulling it over in his head. "Well…you could always ask them?"

"But what if they're a stubborn bastard with a stick up their ass?"

"You could always shove _another _stick up their ass if you know what I mean…"

"Huh?" Naruto looked confusedly at Kiba. "No I do not know what you mean. Care to elaborate?"

"I could always _show _you." Insert lewd smile here.

"I think anything that involves having something shoved up _anyone's _ass, I'd rather not see…" Naruto trailed off, looking at his friend strangely. "You like weird things, Kiba."

"I like _a lot _of things, what can I say? I'm open to all kinds of experiences!" Kiba suddenly had a thought. "What was with the question anyway? Do you like someone?!" Panic seized him. Had Gaara or Sai managed to snatch Naruto's affection away from _right under his nose?!_

"Eh, no…" Naruto waved his question off. "I'm just asking." When Kiba didn't seem pacified, Naruto added, "For a friend."

The brunette let out a relieved sigh. Naruto _almost _felt bad for lying to his gullible friend. Almost. The amusement he felt outweighed the guilt. "Oh okay. Just checking!"

"You know what, Kiba? You're a good friend."

"Umm…thanks…"

Silence.

"…Good enough to be _more _than a friend?"

"Hmm…" Pause. "Sure!"

Kiba looked like a puppy who was about to receive a treat. "_Really?!"_

"Yeah! You're totally my best friend! Well, after Sakura-chan, of course."

"Yes—_Wha?" _The treat was snatched away before the puppy could take it.

"Don't take it personally, dog breath. I've known Sakura-chan longer. And hey, she's just my best female friend. You're my best male friend! So don't be so upset!"

"I'm freakin' ecstatic."

"Good! – Wait, why do you have to sound so sarcastic?!"

"No reason."

"Kiba!!"

* * *

**Attempts Numbers Four – Six **

_See how he reacts when you walk into the room._

After Naruto finished his second exam early, he walked into one of Sasuke's classrooms where a lower class was taking their exam. "Sensei, I need you—" he paused for dramatic effect, made a show of acting embarrassed as thirty heads lifted up to stare at him, watched as Sasuke promptly choked on air, before continuing, "—your help. But I see you are with a class right now so I'll just…find you later!"

Red-faced (from anger or embarrassment, Naruto wasn't sure), Sasuke pointed to the door with a growl. "_Out, _Uzumaki!"

"Going!" He ran away.

REJECTED.

---

_Ask him on a date._

He didn't so much as ask Sasuke on a date, but rather _implied _a date.

"What is it that you… needed help with that you barged into my class during an exam?" Sasuke asked when Naruto sought him out during lunch.

"Oh… Nothing. I got help from Iruka-sensei," Naruto smiled charmingly. Sasuke's brow twitched. "But hey! Since we're here alone together… I happen to have two cups of noodles that need warming up, and I happen to need someone to share them with! So…" _Have lunch with me, please!_

"I brought my own food."

Naruto deflated. "Oh."

DENIED.

---

_Get into a compromising position with him, or let him find you in one. He'll pounce on you for sure and molest you silly! Then you'll _definitely _know he likes you!_

It was nearing the end of lunch and students were heading to their last class for their last exam. Naruto was standing by Sasuke's classroom, wondering how to get Sasuke to catch him in a compromising position without attracting the attention of other students loitering around and walking by. A thought suddenly came to mind.

As soon as he saw Sasuke nearing his position, Naruto started to walk forward before stepping on his shoelaces and tripping over them. The notebook with loose sheets of paper fell out of his hand just as he fell forward, sending said sheets of paper fluttering into the air and him falling on to his knees. His hands shot out to catch his fall.

It was in that position – Naruto on all fours – that Sasuke found the boy in, crawling and shuffling around hastily to pick up his fallen papers. His eyes instantly zeroed in on that round, rear end bent over for his viewing pleasure. Sasuke could feel all of the blood rushing from his head to his southern regions, the same nasty voice from earlier egging him on to jump the boy.

Before he could let his thoughts control him though, he forcefully pushed his way into his classroom and disappeared with a _bam. _

Naruto looked over his shoulder at the sound, only to find that Sasuke was no longer behind him. "Bastard? Where'd ya go?"

FAILURE.

* * *

Sasuke was sitting in his classroom, only this time he was alone. School had finally ended. The end of school signaled the start of winter break for the students _and _staff. While the students were able to start their vacation right away, it was unfortunate that teachers were left with the task of grading their midterms. _Technically _speaking, winter break didn't start till the day after tomorrow, but who actually came to school when midterms were over? Sasuke didn't see it as a requirement to make his students come tomorrow, which _should _mean he had a whole two weeks to grade the midterm, but unfortunately had a deadline to meet in order to submit his students' grades for the semester… _Fuck, _was his summed up thought.

Sasuke figured he should just go ahead and start grading, that way he could enjoy his two weeks off like the rest of his students. It was with that thought he determinedly grabbed the several different folders for his classes that contained scantrons. You see, Sasuke liked to think of himself as a smart individual – maybe not so much 'think,' but _know. _While there were those silly, foolish teachers who gave out handwritten exams, Sasuke stuck to multiple choice. That way he could use one of those machines that will automatically check the scantrons for any mistakes and mark it as was necessary… The hard part was actually putting the grades into the system and in his grade book. _More like pain in the ass, _was Sasuke's thought.

He didn't get any further than standing up and grabbing the scantrons when his door was suddenly thrown open and a breathless, flushed-looking Uzumaki Naruto could be seen standing at the door way appearing completely frazzled. Frazzled in a… Sasuke-could-completely-devour-the-boy-right-then-and-there way. Sasuke frowned in confusion at the thought. There was something seriously wrong with him…

It reminded him of earlier in the day when Naruto suddenly declared: "Sensei, I need you!"

Sasuke waited. Naruto stared expectantly.

"…"

"…"

Sasuke still waited for the punch line, but it never came. The blond just continued to stand there, all jumpable-looking.

"Did you hear me sensei, or are you going deaf in your old age?" Naruto decided to break the silence with a mocking, come-hither smile. "I said I _need you, sensei. _You could also take it to mean that I am _hot _for you and I want us to _fuck _on that desk right here and now—"

Well who was Sasuke to turn down a fuck?

Sasuke had always been rather rational and logical. But for some reason all rationale and logical thinking escaped him as he dropped the tests, stalked towards his student, grabbed his uniform tie and pulled the boy up on his tip toes with a forceful tug. It was eager lips and tongue that returned his heated kiss, and hasty hands that grabbed his hair and held him down tightly.

It's been… how long since Sasuke had a good romp? Too long, he thought as he roughly kissed Naruto who was returning the kiss with just as much roughness and eagerness. Naruto looked lost in an _almost _cute way when Sasuke suddenly broke the kiss. Sasuke smirked at the sight but figured there were other sights he'd rather be reveling in – such as the sight of Naruto bent over his desk moaning and bucking wildly as Sasuke pounded into him – so he steered Naruto towards said desk by the necktie, making Naruto stumble and protest. His words went unheard to Sasuke as he shoved the teenager into the desk, earning a pained cry as he was bent over it with a painful collision of his hipbone against the edge.

"Fucking bastard! That hurt!"

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, not wasting a second to jerk Naruto's hips away from the desk. A satisfying shiver rolled up Sasuke's spine as he ground his hips into Naruto's trouser-clad ass while one hand came around to unbuckle the belt. It was a matter of seconds before he had the boy's pants trapped around his ankles, shortly followed by his orange-clad boxers. "Orange, dobe?" he couldn't help but mock.

"Oh shut up, bastard," was the breathy, snappish response. Heated blue eyes glared at him from over a shoulder, but Sasuke noted with satisfaction the flustered cheeks and lustful haze in his eyes.

"Tell me, _dobe," _Sasuke murmured as he trailed his fingers down the crack of Naruto's ass, in-between his thighs before grabbing and squeezing his balls from behind. A strangled moan sounded from Naruto's throat as he arched his back and spread his legs further. "Do you want me to fuck you?"

"Didn't I already say that?!" Naruto retorted but yelped when Sasuke squeezed him a bit _too _hard. "_Fuck, _yes, okay?! Yes, yes, yes!"

Sasuke smirked. He rolled his balls with skillful fingers, watching as Naruto held on to the desk with white knuckles. "_Sensei," _Naruto suddenly moaned in a way that should not be allowed because it made Sasuke hot all over. "I can't wait anymore sensei… _please…"_

"Please what, Naruto?" Sasuke couldn't help it. He had to make him beg, even if the straining, painfully hard erection in his pants was saying otherwise.

"_Fuck _me, sensei!"

Sasuke was going to do just that until a cheery-looking Hatake Kakashi came prancing into his room with a: "Wakey-wakey, Saaasuke!"

"What?"

"Wake up, Sasuke!"

And so, Sasuke woke up. He woke up with a painful crick in his neck to the sight of scattered scantrons spread out over his desk. He sat up disgruntled, having to peel a scantron from his cheek with an irritated sigh. He must have fallen asleep at his desk when he was contemplating taking the scantrons to be graded… _Oh what the hell. _The current bane of his existence for having interrupted his dream was sitting at the edge of his desk, his eyes curved in a knowing, mirthful way that made Sasuke want to shove the man off.

"Good morning, sunshine," Kakashi greeted.

"It is not morning, Hatake."

"Aah, it appears it isn't!" Kakashi agreed, his mirthful gaze suddenly becoming evil and lewd. "And pray tell what were you dreaming about that was _so _good that it took me a good five minutes to wake you up?"

"That is none of your business, Hatake," Sasuke snapped back. He was mad that Kakashi had interrupted him, _and _because he had been having a wet dream about his _student. _What was wrong with him?! He rested his elbow against the surface of his desk and placed his face in his hand. It was his entire damned libido's fault! If only he hadn't been so sexually deprived the past couple of months… And to top it off Naruto had to go and appear in such incriminating ways… and kiss him to boot! It was only natural his sexually-deprived body would conjure up a dream about him screwing Naruto.

Now that he was able to rationalize it in his head, Sasuke was able to meet the knowing stare of Kakashi. "Stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you know exactly what I am thinking."

"That's because I _do _know," Kakashi waggled his finger, scolding. "You had a wet dream. You rationalized it in your head. Now you think you've come to terms with it in a most logical explanation like you've been _so _sexually deprived…"

Damn that man.

"Whatever. Go away. I have tests to be graded."

"Hasn't anyone ever told you denial isn't only a river in Egypt?"

"I vaguely recall a similar statement… said by someone just as idiotic."

"Sounds like a smart person!"

Sasuke sneered. "Was there a particular reason that you came into my classroom?"

"Nah. Just saw you asleep on your desk. I also took it upon myself and saw it as my sole duty to awake you from what appeared to be a _good _dream." Kakashi hopped off of Sasuke's desk and headed out of the classroom with a cheerful, "Adieu!"

"…bastard," Sasuke grumbled. Once he was sure the man was gone, he sighed and slumped in his desk, glancing down at his lap disdainfully. There was no way he could set one foot out of the classroom with that tent in his pants…

With a 'why-me' groan, Sasuke dropped his head on his desk with a 'thunk.' It was five minutes later that the other bane of his existence came practically _skipping _into his classroom.

"Yoooo, bastard-sensei!"

Just his luck! And he still had a raging hard on!

Sasuke lifted his head to send his blond-haired student a menacing glare, only to notice with a panic that the boy was standing on _his _side of the desk, right _next _to him. Sasuke hurriedly sat up and scooted his seat further so the desk was hiding the bulge in his lap. He would never be able to live it down if Naruto caught sight of his erection… "What is it, Uzumaki?"

"Iruka-sensei needs to talk to you."

"What about?"

"I don't know."

"I don't have time for your foolish games, Uzumaki—"

"I'm serious! Come on!" Naruto started to walk towards the door but stopped when seeing Sasuke hadn't gotten up. "Come on! Iruka-sensei said he needs to talk to you about something! Are you gonna be rude and not come?!"

Red-faced, Sasuke looked away. "Tell him I can't go right now."

"And why not?!" Naruto demanded hotly. When he didn't receive a response, the teenager stomped forward and grabbed Sasuke's arm, trying to pull him out of his seat. "Don't be such an asshole!"

"Damn it, Uzumaki, let go!"

"I _said _to _come on--!" _Naruto pulled hard. It was unfortunate that Sasuke's chair had wheels at the bottom. Naruto's forceful tug made Sasuke's grip on his desk release, causing his chair to slide back and collide into the wall. It was also unfortunate that Naruto still had a grip on Sasuke's arm, the jerk of the sliding chair sending him falling toward Sasuke. He shot his hands out in order to brace his fall. While one hand managed to grab one of the arms of the chair, the other managed to fall right on to… well… Sasuke's problem.

Three things happened in that second.

First, Sasuke paled dramatically.

Second, Naruto turned a bright red.

Third, Naruto realized just _what _he had grabbed.

"Oh…" he squeaked, eyes wide. "_Oh…"_

"Fucking dobe," Sasuke growled, having to bite back a groan at the feel of Naruto's warm hand through his pants. "Get off of me."

"I-I," he started to stammer, still staring at his hand in Sasuke's lap. Sasuke stared at Naruto through narrowed eyes, watching as the gears in blue eyes turned and shifted, thinking, wondering… thinking about what, Sasuke wasn't sure. There was an odd expression on Naruto's face that Sasuke could not decipher. Naruto bowed his head, his bangs covering his eyes just as he slid his hand down Sasuke's thigh, leaving a trail of warmth where he had touched. Sasuke watched as Naruto stood up, his head still bowed. He figured the boy was going to leave completely embarrassed, but instead he did something that completely startled Sasuke and left his heart racing.

Naruto climbed into his chair and straddled his lap, warm hands reaching out to grasp Sasuke's shoulders tightly. Obsidian eyes widened in disbelief. He found his breath was caught in his throat, nor could he breathe properly when Naruto started to lower his waist until their hips were aligned and he was completely resting on Sasuke's lap. The pressure in his lap seemed to decrease as Naruto rolled his hips in such a way that had Sasuke groaning out loud.

"We can't have you going to see Iruka-sensei with _that…" _Naruto practically purred, his hands sliding down to rub against Sasuke's chest. "Let me help you with your problem, hm, _sensei?_"

Considering his problem was _because _of the blond idiot to begin with, Sasuke wasn't going to complain.

Naruto lowered his face so their noses bumped, his hot breath lingering over Sasuke's lips. He moaned as Sasuke grabbed his ass with both hands, painfully crushing their erections together and bringing Naruto's lips into a kiss. Naruto kissed him back with breathy pants of his name in-between, his wandering hands sliding up Sasuke's shirt as his fingers danced over the muscles of his toned stomach. The pace of their hips started to increase the further the pressure in their groins heightened. It was with a sudden jerk from Naruto and a bump of their heads that Sasuke woke up to reality.

This time he was staring at his classroom ceiling.

His head was also pounding. It felt as if it had been split open…

Sasuke sat up, wondering how the hell he went from sitting on his desk to laying on his classroom floor with a headache. He must have fallen asleep again shortly after Kakashi left… Goddamn it. _Damn it all to Hell_.

* * *

Sasuke was starting to think there was something wrong with him.

Sasuke was also starting to think he was being stalked.

He could always feel _eyes _on him. It was making him paranoid and irritated. He wanted to know who kept staring at him so he could kindly tell them to stop (by kindly he meant punch them in the face).

There was also the dobe-issue, and by 'dobe issue,' he meant that the boy was being _way _too pleasant towards Sasuke than was deemed normal. It also didn't help that Sasuke kept finding Naruto in the strangest of situations. First when he burst into his classroom proclaiming he 'needed Sasuke.' Then there was lunch time where he found Naruto in a rather suggestive position that he would rather not remember for it only brought to surface another unwanted memory of when he was pressed against that ass from behi—Damn it he was thinking about it!

Anyway. Back to the issue at hand – he had a stalker. A stalker who was completely idiotic, ridiculous, and stupid to think that Sasuke was not aware that he was stalking him. Did Naruto think _he, Uchiha Sasuke, _was stupid? Apparently so.

"Stop staring at me, Uzumaki," Sasuke finally snapped as he rounded on Naruto. It was after school and Sasuke had just finished sending the scantrons through the machine, finishing the midterm grading. Naruto was leaning against the lockers, watching as Sasuke disappeared earlier into the room before coming out. "And were you _waiting _for me?"

"Ummmm…" Naruto paused, trying to think of a lie, but realizing it was pointless. "Yup!"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "…Were you following me around all day?"

"Maaaybe!"

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. "_Why?_ I already told you, Uzumaki. It's flattering that you have a crush on me, but it's time to move on –"

Naruto scowled. "And I already told you it's not me with the crush, it's you!"

Sasuke snorted. "As if." Sasuke didn't want to encourage him further with his hypothesis by telling him about his wet dreams… That would most definitely not go over so well. The boy would probably think he, Sasuke, was in love with him, Naruto! That would be _most _preposterous and an idea so far out of this world it was laughable! "I suppose you do not handle rejection very well, do you, considering you've been stalking me around school all day today."

"I wouldn't say 'stalking'!" Naruto protested, blushing. "I'm just trying to find proof of your crush!"

Naruto was convinced that the raised eyebrow movement was a movement perfected by all Uchiha's. "And _have _you found any proof of this imaginary crush?"

"Not yet!" he replied hurriedly. "But I _know _you do!"

"Huh," Sasuke deadpanned, unconvinced. "You are very immature, Uzumaki. It's time for you to grow up and realize adults such as myself have no time or any will to harbor 'crushes' on you. And also, considering my feelings are my _own, _I think I would know if I had a 'crush' on you or not. Now, you have done nothing but demonstrate how immature you are. I suggest you drop this issue before I take it up with Iruka-san. Perhaps I have been too indulging to your foolishness… but enough is enough. From now on I will be addressed as 'Uchiha-sensei' from you. Anything less informal and you will receive detention. I will no longer tolerate your disrespectful manner, and if you so much as continue with this charade of me fancying you, I will not only take it up with Iruka-san, but the principal as well. Do you understand me, Uzumaki?"

Naruto winced at Sasuke's cold words. His expression darkened once Sasuke stopped speaking. It seemed Sasuke stood there for a long time, staring down at Naruto with those cold, scolding eyes. Eventually Naruto lowered his eyes to the floor and murmured, "Yes, Uchiha-sensei."

"Now that we are clear on what our relationship _is…_" Sasuke turned around. "I suggest you head home."

"Yes, sensei."

"_Fuck me, sensei!"_

Sasuke twitched. He felt hot anger all of a sudden. It was that damned boy's entire fault – "I said to _go, _Uzumaki," Sasuke suddenly snarled when he didn't hear Naruto make a move.

Naruto jumped at the man's aggressive tone, but wasted not another second to hurry away.

"_Let me help you with your problem, hm, _sensei_?"_

An angry growl tore its way from Sasuke's throat just as he banged the side of his fist against the nearest locker. How come, no matter how much he tried to push away that irritating idiot, thoughts of _him_ came flashing into his head?!

It was wrong, it was _so _very wrong… But the way Naruto seemed convinced Sasuke liked him, he was practically asking Sasuke to return his feelings. The sooner Naruto realized his feelings were wrong, that they were fleeting, that they were immature… The sooner the temptation to take advantage of Naruto would go away. Because that was all Naruto would be to Sasuke: another conquest, another fuck. He wasn't going to lose his job just because his libido demanded he get some, and his easiest option would be someone infatuated with him.

He needed to get laid.

* * *

Naruto felt both angry and pathetic. Perhaps his actions the past couple of days demonstrated those of an infatuated _fan-boy, _but Naruto was not a fan boy! His feelings for his coldhearted teacher _were _genuine… now that he realized it, anyway. He really _did _like Sasuke. And it wasn't because Sasuke looked _good _or because he was like those fan boys or girls who wanted to fuck Sasuke… Naruto really, _really _liked Sasuke.

That would probably explain why his heart felt like it had been torn into pieces.

But rather than wallowing in his misery and rejection, Naruto was angry! What the hell was wrong with that bastard?! Sometimes he's nice to Naruto, sometimes he seems to genuinely enjoy Naruto's company…and now suddenly he makes a complete 180 and pushes Naruto away?! Sure Sasuke was his teacher… but since when did they ever act like student-teacher? _Never, _as far as Naruto could tell. There was just something about Sasuke that riled Naruto up, that made him feel comfortable around the man, that made titles such as 'student' and 'teacher' no longer matter in the bigger picture. Because the bigger picture was: Naruto really, _really _liked Sasuke!

It sounded crazy, he knew that, but it was the truth. Sasuke made him flustered. Sasuke made his heart race. Sasuke made his stomach feel uncomfortable and squirmy in a weird, warm way. It was always _Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke. _That bastard was always on his mind! At first it was because he pissed Naruto off… but now he pissed Naruto off because Naruto liked him! It was frustrating.

Any normal person would accept their crush for their teacher as nothing more than that. They would continue on with life, admiring their teacher from afar, but realize it could never grow or turn into something more. Naruto once felt fleeting infatuation for Sakura. There was a difference between the fleeting crush and what Naruto felt for Sasuke. This was stronger… and he knew that!

"It's not a charade…" Naruto muttered out loud, sulking his way home. "It's not…"

Sasuke was different. He couldn't explain how or why, let alone fully understand it; his guts just told him so. He trusted his guts. They never steered him wrong in the past.

The words Sasuke had said to him… he may as well just been mocking his feelings. It hurt to have his feelings mocked so when they were genuine.

He had the sudden urge to call Sakura. So he did. It was fifteen minutes later he found himself sitting on one of the park's swings, swaying back and forth with his cell phone pressed to his ear, Sakura contemplating on the other end after Naruto finished telling her about the past two days.

"…I see."

"Huh?" Naruto drew swirly lines in the sand with the tip of his shoes.

"Well, Naruto. From what I heard, all you did was accuse Sasuke that he likes you, and spent the rest of the day trying to find proof of that. You never once let him know how genuine your feelings were, so of course he's going to treat you so harshly."

Naruto winced at that. "Sakura-chan…"

"You have to see things from his perspective as well, Naruto," she chided. "Sasuke is a teacher. He's an adult. He has a responsibility to treat you as nothing more than a student. But now he's in a sudden dilemma because his student is convinced his teacher likes him! Wouldn't you find it silly if you were in his position?"

"Well… when you put it like that…" he reluctantly agreed in a mumble.

"Naruto," Sakura continued gently, "If you just let Sasuke know how genuine your feelings are, I'm sure he will take you more serious. I'm not going to get your hopes up by saying he'll return them, I'm just saying he won't treat you as harshly if he's aware how genuine you are."

"I don't know…" Naruto said uncertainly. "He's a bastard. It wouldn't be out of character for him to say such mean things even if I had said that I really like him…"

"Hey, whatever happened to the little boy who was determined to make me agree to go on a date with him?" Sakura playfully pointed out. "From what I can tell, you like this guy way more than you ever liked me. Yes it seems rather silly that you harbor feelings for your _teacher _since he's your teacher and all… but Naruto, I know you. And because I know you, I know your feelings are genuine. You're not the type to harbor silly infatuations… besides for me, that is. But the difference between you and me is that I _do _harbor silly infatuations here and there and pursue them even knowing it's completely hopeless… but you have a big heart Naruto."

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto smiled as he settled to a stop, breathing out. "You have a way with words, you know that?"

She chuckled. "So I've been told."

"What should I do?"

"You tell me."

"I should probably just let this go and treat him like I treat my other teachers…"

"Probably."

"I should probably figure that maybe my feelings are just a crush…"

"Yeah."

"I should probably realize we'll never progress further than student-teacher…"

"Probably, yes."

"…Aren't you supposed to be convincing me otherwise?"

Sakura laughed. "Probably."

Naruto couldn't help it. He laughed too. "I don't know what I would do without you!"

"I don't know either! But see, Naruto, there's always an exception to everything… and for as long as I've known you, you've always been the exception."

Anyone would interpret that to mean that there was a high possibility Sasuke would return his feelings. Naruto didn't see it like that. He saw it to mean that it was okay to like someone who seemed out of reach. It was possible for Naruto to fall for the unlikely people. To Naruto, miniscule details like 'student-teacher' or that Sasuke's several years older than Naruto didn't stop his feelings nor would such details alter the way he felt in any way. He believed Sasuke could have been a woman and he'd still harbor feelings for the Uchiha.

Because one couldn't help who they fell for, no matter how much society may dictate how wrong it may be or how socially unacceptable it is.

Who dictated what was socially acceptable anyway?

Naruto was always different in that sense. He didn't let society dictate his attitude, his personality, his ideas or thoughts or actions… He was himself. He made decisions for himself. Everything about his situation was socially unacceptable, but who cared?

Knowing all of that made Naruto feel better. He felt that it was easier to come to terms with his feelings for his _male _teacher, and, perhaps – thanks to Sakura – see things from Sasuke's perspective.

* * *

"_So you'll be able to come?"_

"Huh?" was Sasuke's intelligent response. His thoughts had started to wander sometime during his phone conversation with Iruka.

"_To my Christmas dinner party,"_ Iruka reminded with a hint of amusement in his voice.

There was a momentary pause as Sasuke thought over the question in a matter of 2.3 seconds. Generally he spent Christmas with his extended family, reluctantly of course, and family Christmas parties meant running into his crazy cousins and such… a reunion he'd rather avoid. "Hn."

"_Great!" _Sasuke could imagine the older man grinning on the other end.

Once Sasuke took down the information – date, place, time – the two hung up. It was only after hanging up that Sasuke realized just _what _he agreed to, and what agreeing meant for him. It meant going to Iruka's place. Going to Iruka's place meant running into Naruto. Running into Naruto…wasn't something he wanted, hence why he canceled martial arts classes during winter break (more like he wanted to be lazy for two weeks…).

Sure Sasuke may have been a bit harsh with the boy, and perhaps he wasn't helping matters by _ignoring _Naruto – after all, how could a teacher ignore their own student? It wasn't professional, let alone proper. But for some reason, Sasuke just did not know how to handle Naruto. He never had any qualms about ignoring his fangirls (and boys). But he never had any issues about ignoring their infatuated feelings whilst acting in a professional and mature manner. Yet when it came to Naruto he was quick to become angry. He was quick to say things unprofessionally. He wanted to push the teenager far away so he wouldn't be affected by him anymore.

It was driving him insane.

And since when did Sasuke care that Naruto was his student? He never had any qualms about sleeping with younger males (well, not _too _young, of course). Uchihas weren't known for their _morals. _Sasuke could not think of one single member in his family who _had _any morals (with exception to his deceased mother, who was probably rolling in her grave at the indecent thoughts her son was having about a teenager).

For example, there was his cousin Obito who was the biggest whore Sasuke ever knew.

And then there was his brother, who Sasuke was convinced didn't know the definition of _morality. _After all, running a large company and sitting on a huge stack of money let one get away with _anything. _Enough said.

His deceased father, Uchiha Fugaku, wasn't known for his morals, either.

His uncle, Uchiha Mamoru, who took over the family business after his brother died, was similar to Fugaku. They were like peas in a pod: no sympathy, no morals, always ruling with an iron fist. If they wanted something, they would use force if necessary. But they pretty much got whatever they wanted. All Uchihas did. And they got away with a lot of things – _illegal things – _considering the Uchiha family owned Konoha's police force.

Sometimes Sasuke felt like he was apart of the mafia.

It was mostly because of the illegal, underground things his family's business was apart of that Sasuke did not want to take over the company. He did not want any part of it. Not to mention he wanted to make a name for himself rather than living off of his parents' own success. While Sasuke did not agree, for the most part, with the illegalities of what his family did, he didn't care enough to put a stop to it. His family was still his family, after all, and Sasuke learned after his parents' accident that all one had, in the end, was their family – even if said family was full of psychotic, crazy, unlawful abiding citizens who broke the rules on a daily basis.

But it was because his family was full of psychotic, crazy, unlawful abiding citizens that Sasuke would rather go to Iruka's for Christmas dinner instead of another family reunion. A house full of drunken Uchihas was always a recipe for disaster.

Anyway – what was the point of all this rambling? Morals, yes. Sasuke didn't have any morals, or at least, he thought so. He's slept with his fair share of younger boys in the past – a sixteen year old two years ago, a fifteen year old when he himself was eighteen, a nineteen year old a couple months ago… He slept with women in the past when he was going through puberty, but Sasuke remembered never being quite satisfied when he slept with girls. Females never actually turned him on. When he wanted sex, he would turn to the first willing, able body to satisfy his urges. He even remembered downloading porn, but never being satisfied with watching the women in it. And then he became more curious about other boys, which led to gay porn and further experimentation.

Sasuke didn't care when he realized he was gay. If anything, it was a relief because everything started to make sense – why he never cared for girls, why he would check out other guys in P.E. when they would change in the locker rooms, why he never _liked _any other girl, why no girl could sexually arouse him. It was as if a light bulb went off in his head, as if he had his own enlightenment, as if God – if he believed in God, anyway—went to him and said "my child, you are gay."

Thinking about his younger days made Sasuke wonder how his parents would feel if they were still alive and knew about their son's sexual orientation. But Sasuke knew how his parents would react. He knew his mother would accept him regardless, and his father would probably pressure him like his Uncle Mamoru to at least take up a mistress that would bare his children. Sasuke snorted at the thought. _No morals whatsoever._

Considering Sasuke's history, his family, and the way he was raised, one would think Sasuke would be quick to take advantage of Uzumaki's infatuation towards him. Sasuke knew he was wanted by older and younger people alike and never cared about age or using their feelings to his advantage. Because even if Sasuke turned someone down, they would still sleep with him willingly, even knowing he would not be there when they woke up. Any chance to get into Uchiha Sasuke's pants was an opportunity women and men alike grasped whenever they could. That was probably the difference between Naruto and the other men and women he ever slept with. Naruto wasn't _just _another fanboy. If Sasuke was being honest with himself and if he so chose to look, he knew the truth of the boy's feelings would show in his eyes.

He hated himself because he knew that was the reason why he was avoiding the boy like the plague. He, Uchiha Sasuke, was a coward when it came to real feelings.

But wouldn't those genuine feelings come to his advantage to quickly get laid? Sasuke doubted it. Somehow he figured Naruto wouldn't bend willingly for him.

Sasuke paused in his thoughts.

Naruto.

Willingly.

Bending.

His mind was assaulted with images from his dreams earlier that day.

Sasuke cursed as his traitorous mind yet again managed to wander off to thoughts of that idiot blond in compromising positions. His idiocy should have been a turn off. He shouldn't like bright, bubbly, blond, loud morons who always smiled. He shouldn't like obnoxious younger boys. He shouldn't like someone who easily riled him up and made him feel things he didn't know he was capable of feeling.

And he should definitely not have the sudden urge to jerk off when remembering how it felt to have said boy pinned beneath him with his backside pressed firmly against him.

A cold shower quickly became a necessity.

* * *

"Awww 'rukaaaa! Did you really just invite bastard-sensei over for Christmas dinner?!"

Umino Iruka frowned disapprovingly at his young charge. "Naruto! It isn't proper to address your teacher in such a way."

Naruto made a face. "Okay, okay. _Uchiha _-sensei. Happy now?"

Iruka rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to the stir fry he was making. "What's so wrong about inviting Sasuke-san over? I invited a lot of the staff over. You know I generally do for Christmas dinner, Naruto. Sasuke-san is apart of the staff so it's not as if I wasn't going to not invite him…"

Naruto pouted at that. It was true. Every year Iruka would invite his fellow teachers to dinner over Christmas. Those who had family abroad and couldn't go see them, or those who didn't have anything better to do over the holidays would come over. Didn't Sasuke have a brother? That would mean he had some family, so shouldn't he spend Christmas with them? What made him agree to come over?!

Perhaps earlier in the day Naruto had been eager to apologize and make amends with Sasuke, but now that he didn't have the chance to, Naruto found he'd rather put it off and not see the man for as long as he possibly could! He convinced himself that if he were to apologize, Sasuke would just have some other scathing, bastardly reply to give him.

Why did he like that infuriating man anyway? It was beyond him…

While Naruto sulked and glared at the kitchen table, Iruka finished making dinner. It was as he was setting the table that the doorbell rang. When Naruto made no move to answer it, Iruka thumped him on the head with his knuckle.

"Go get the door, Naruto."

"Yeah, yeah…" the blond grumbled, rubbing his head as he got up and headed to the front door. He was surprised to find Gaara standing there, looking unfazed by the cold, nighttime weather with his black coat open to reveal his forest green shirt. His cheeks were slightly flushed from the chilly wind. "Oh, hey Gaara! I wasn't expecting you."

"I need to talk to you…" Gaara said.

"Sure, come on in then…" Naruto started to stand back to allow Gaara entrance, but the redhead shook his head.

"Can you come out? This will only take a second."

Naruto seemed reluctant to step outside into the cold, but did so anyway and closed the front door behind him. He figured Gaara wanted some privacy. Naruto's teeth started to chatter as he rubbed his arms, his long sleeved shirt not doing much to protect him from the low temperatures. "What's up? Is something wrong…?"

"No," Gaara said. When he didn't say anything further, Naruto peered at him closer and noticed that Gaara looked tense about something. There was a crease in his forehead and the way he was standing with his shoulders slightly raised made him look anxious, as if he were bracing himself for something.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked, suddenly worried. His mind started to explode with all kinds of possibilities. Did it have anything to do with those two hoodlums? Was he going back to Suna? Did he get into a fight with those hoodlums? Did he kill someone? Where did he dump the body?

"Yeah…" The only indication that Gaara let out a breath – perhaps a frustrated sigh – was the mist of air that fogged from his lips. "I have something to ask you."

Did he want Naruto to hide the body?

"Sure, what is it?"

"I…" Was it him or was Gaara… _nervous?_

_There is definitely a body._

Gaara glanced at the sky, inhaled, exhaled, and then: "Be my boyfriend."

_I knew it! He wants me to – wait, _"What?"

"Be my boyfriend," Gaara repeated more firmly.

Naruto could only blink. He was at a loss of what to do or say, of how he should respond to Gaara. Sure Gaara had kissed him before, so should it have surprised him that he'd ask Naruto to be his boyfriend?

"Wait, so there's no body?"

Gaara frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Er—nothing," Naruto nervously waved it off. "So, um…you…me… I…"

Gaara watched as the blond shuffled and stammered over his words, either too happy that he was being asked out, or unsure how to gently reject Gaara. A part of Gaara hoped it was the first, but the guilty and uncertain look plastered on Naruto's face told him otherwise.

"Naruto, dinner's ready!" Naruto nearly jumped when he heard Iruka's voice yell from inside the house.

"I…I gotta go!"

In a blink of an eye, Naruto was inside the house with the front door slammed shut.

Gaara stood there for a moment staring at the closed door. He wasn't bothered by the cold wind that played with his hair or nipped at what exposed skin it could reach. He sighed before turning around and walking away.

That was the last time he took Temari's advice.

**To be continued.**

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**ATTENTION: **If you guys haven't been to my profile in a while, then please check out the awesome fanart that yoloyoru (yoloyoru (dot) deviantart (dot) com) drew for me… It's of Naruto in his Dracula costume, and the link is in my profile under the fanarts with the link titled "Yaoi High: Dracula!naruto." It's too cute. It's been an inspiration for me to finish this chapter… as well as the amazing 400+ pages that bluebella (bluebella (dot) deviantart (dot) com) has done for the yh doujin so far.

And of course, thank you everyone for the amazing reviews. It brings a smile to my face knowing so many of you enjoy this fic. I will try to have the next chapter done before christmas, or at least by New Years... if not then Happy Holidays everyone!


	19. i've got a lovely bunch of coconuts

**Note: **this chapter is just an author's note and will prob'ly be removed at some point in near future.

Ergh. Please don't flog me with sharp objects. I can't even begin to tell you guys how sorry I am for the long-ass wait and when you finally get alert…instead you get an author's note D:

I really don't want to do this, but at the same time I _do – _so I am in a difficult position right now...

But first, why haven't I updated in a year plus forever? Well, last year I was working crazy hours and going to school full time, so I barely had free time...other life stuff got in the way...Visited South Carolina a couple of times... moved from California to South Carolina... looked for a school to transfer to... got married a couple of months ago (in June), settled in, got addicted to World of Warcraft (still am addicted, but have been bored of it lately)...started first semester at new school...now on to my second semester...tutor elementary school kids in-between...Don't worry, just because I went and got hitched doesn't mean I'm going to have babies and completely give up fanfics... I am never having kids. They are not for me. It's fine when they're someone else's so I can send them on their merry way.

The other (main) reason I haven't updated in a year is due to writer's block, writer's block which is, in part, my fault for writing myself into one. I started Welcome to Yaoi High with the intention of making it completely pointless and filled with pointless, hot sex. But, well, obviously that failed. Then as I went with it, I wanted to incorporate a plot. Clearly I failed at that as well, since the only major plot has been Naruto falling for Sasuke and as of recent chapters, trying to win his affections. I suppose that is a plot, but a boring one at that.

I also created it with the intentions of comedy. I can only assume I accomplished it with the heartwarming reviews I get telling me how much my story has made them laugh – and I can't put into proper words how amazingly happy that makes me feel, knowing I accomplished at least one thing with it.

Don't worry, I'm not saying all of this because I want to cancel yaoi high, in a sense... I am still (kind of) working on the next chapter, but I have also started thinking of completely editing it all – plot, story, etc. It will still be in a high school with Sasuke as teacher and Naruto as a new student, hopefully with the same comedic aspects, but with a surefire plot and actual plot progression. I haven't exactly thought it all out, but if I want yaoi high to be a good fic, I can't leave it the way it is. Sure it's funny, sure I had an awesome time writing what I have so far, but everything about it was unplanned and I've been grasping at straws for the longest time, trying to come up with ideas to work into the fic to make it seem like there's a plot – hence the writer's block and long updates.

I blame all of this on the fact that I've declared myself an English major and have been taking nothing but English and writing classes. I've learned to look at things-stories, my own writings-more critically and with skepticism. I would like to think my writing has grown, even. As such, I have started considering the idea of rewriting yaoi high because it's obviously not about "yaoi." The title will also most likely change in some form if I do this (my current title that I am considering is "NAMIKAZE"...CAPS and all).

I'm not suggesting changing it completely. I am also working on a different version of the first chapter, as well as the next chapter of _this heart, it beats _in-between school work and other papers – so please keep in mind I am still busy, but my inspiration to write has recently reignited. Unfortunately the inspiration doesn't extend to the current welcome to yaoi high…but I am quite eager to revise it..

I** will update you guys more, most likely in my profile and/or on my LJ account (www . livejournal . com / fireflies_x )**. I will keep the entries in consideration to yaoi high public so if you don't have LJ and I link to it, you'll be able to easily read them. I will be posting sample summaries on there, as well as snippets of chapters as I get them rewritten. I won't be waiting until I am done with all of them to post any if I do decide to go through with this, so don't worry about that part. I just want to know your guys' honest opinion about my decision and whether you think it is the best thing for me to do this.

I am extremely wary at posting this due to losing readers or upsetting you guys. The last thing I want is that. Please keep an open mind and that I feel it's the best thing I can do for this fic is revise it to the best of my abilities. I could just end it soon to get it out of the way, but that would be unfair because I never planned on ending it soon without any loving going on. And if I keep it the way it is, updates will continue to be slow to never. I have literally been grasping at straws when it came to working on chapters... so please...bare with me a while longer. I hate it when other authors do this, so I do hate that I am doing it as well, but it's been a long time coming.

Thank you all,  
eftee


	20. NAMIKAZE

And because a reader requested I post a new chapter to inform an update on the new version... the new version of Welcome to Yaoi High titled "NAMIKAZE" is now up. All you have to do is click on my profile link and bam you will find it there.

Thank you all for your comments, support and for sticking with this version through all the long updates and lack of motivation and inspiration that I was hit with. I can only hope you all enjoy the new version as much as you enjoyed this one.

~eftee


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